Slightly off-topic - meaning I will gladly move this to a more appropriate thread if asked to do so, and told how - earlier this morning I listened to the
Call You and Yours podcast on BBC Radio 4, originally broadcast yesterday. The topic - and my reason for listening to it:
What's it like to buy and run an EV in the UK? So here's a quick synopsis of this 40-minute broadcast (note: much of this is strictly relevant to the UK market):
- listeners would call in to describe their experience owning an EV in the UK; without exception they all love driving an EV vs. a petrol car... mmm, ok, great! But...
- most of them complained about the limited range, and their reaction varied from "not for long drives, city driving only, it's a commuter car really; they're not there yet with the technology / not ready to become your only driver" to "well you just need to plan ahead, and I now know exactly how many miles there are to my office, my kid's school, etc."
- it quickly emerges that many of the callers own either 1st gen. Leafs (my grammar-loving brain wants me to type Leaves, but I know I shouldn't) or Zoes, or a Mitsubishi PHEV, or various other hybrids with very low electric range, up to 100 miles;
- on the topic of hybrids: funny / cringey comment from a guy who just bought a Toyota Auris hybrid this March and, when asked how often he needs to charge, he replies "oh, no, mine is what's known as a self-charging hybrid" - completely unchallenged, in spite of him admitting seconds earlier that the petrol engine charges the battery! So many things wrong here, but moving on...
- the real barrier to a smooth transition to EVs is the insufficient charging infrastructure in cities and on motorways, the fact that many charging points are either not working or are ICEd (although nobody actually used that word) and also the multiple charging networks, each requiring a separate membership and its own card or phone app, and it should be more straightforward, be able to pay with your debit / credit card
- prices are still too high, it is expected that by 2025 there will be price parity with ICEVs as battery technology improves
- living in a flat is a non-starter for owning an EV if there is insufficient public charging in a city, says a fellow who lives in a flat in London and owns an EV, admitting he paid £2000 for getting a connection to a charging system installed in his building by the management company, which charging system cost £3000 to install (and for which he had to also pay his share)
- it occurred to me that any person interested in the actual practical benefits of buying or owning an EV in the UK and listening to this would get the impression that it's just a bunch of weird tree-huggers buying these cars in spite of how difficult it is to own one (most owners mentioned buying an EV because they wanted to "go green" and they enjoyed the "silence", and diesels stink, literally): EVs are expensive to buy, difficult to charge due to poor or inexistent infrastructure, and they have limited range, according to owners!
- I kept waiting to hear someone mention Tesla, not because I'm an investor, but because I would have thought that one of the world's largest EV-only car companies, making the EVs with the longest range and the best performance, is relevant to this topic... the word was only uttered once, in the absolute final minute of the show, in connection to the moral implications of Li-ion batteries requiring cobalt, which is mined by child labor in the DR Congo (yeah... that came up!), and the expert invited on the show, Prof. David Bailey from Birmingham Business School, said that Tesla is "looking at alternative options" to reduce Co content in the batteries, and BMW has made a big effort on this!
- there's clearly a lot of demand for EVs, because VW just took 10,000 preorders in the first 24h for the ID3 "which costs £26,000", and the Opel Ampera (?) has 4000 preorders! Wow! Any other... car company or model you might... want to mention on the topic of large preorder numbers? No? Mmmkay then...
- things like the large EV ownership in Norway were mentioned, along with the benefits the local government provided for increased adoption, although it might have been relevant to mention that more than half of new cars purchased there are now EVs... but no.
My take: this is a good cross-section of how the general population (again, in the UK) views the experience of owning and driving an EV. People who own old-ish non-Tesla EVs will complain about range, people looking into buying new EVs will complain about price, and everyone will complain about the charging infrastructure. The big take-away is that it's a big headache and you'd better be prepared to completely change your driving habits!
And there's your lack of demand! People may hear about new EV models and performance numbers, but unless they really decide to start reading into the whole experience of owning one and trying to get as much info on the topic, they will just live with prejudiced views and stupid soundbites and won't consider it.
Demand will grow organically as more people understand that these barriers are being knocked down one after another - and most of these barriers don't even exist anymore! I believe Europe will be a HUGE market for EVs, and the transition will be fairly sudden, but it's people's awareness and attitudes that will first need to change.
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