As we launch findings from our Research Community survey on attitudes to electric vehicles, Head of Research, Ed Houghton highlights the importance of understanding people’s barriers if the UK is to meet its carbon reduction targets. What can policymakers and industry do to help drive the transition? Who do our respondents expect to pay for new EV charging infrastructure? Read Ed’s analysis and download the full report below.

For the past week, all eyes have been on Sharm El-Sheikh, as world leaders met at COP27 to find a way forward against the urgency of climate change. While the conference looked across many sectors and their challenges, a vital area is transport and mobility - specifically, the transition away from polluting carbon fuels and towards zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). The trend towards ZEVs and electric vehicles (EVs) has been increasing for several years – and with the ongoing war in Ukraine, the pressure to move away from carbon fuel has only grown.

The big news at COP27 was that the ZEVs are very much on the agenda. Delegates agreed to launch the Accelerating To Zero Coalition, billed as a “platform for leading initiatives to work together to deliver a Paris-aligned Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) transition globally.” This new coalition aims to build on COP26’s Zero Emission Vehicles Declaration, which plans to accelerate the transition to make all new cars and vans zero-emission by 2035 in leading markets, and 2040 globally, in line with Paris Agreement climate goals.

But while these goals are critical, the path to realising them is not clear. And given the current economic and energy climate, there is considerable uncertainty as to how realistic these objectives are, when public attitudes and perceptions towards ZEVs, and EVs in particular, are still limited by concerns that electric isn’t necessarily going to be better than petrol or diesel. This is why at DG Cities, we have been investigating public attitudes to and perceptions of electric vehicles to understand what can be done to accelerate the transition towards zero emissions.

Is the UK public ready for the EV transition?

To reach these, and the UK’s own aspirational targets, there will need to be a significant shift in purchasing behaviour over the coming decade. A shift is now possible, as technology has improved considerably: battery capacity has grown and EV chargers are more effective, easier to use, and offer improved user interfaces. These changes mean that in the UK alone, EV sales have increased 160% over two years and are continuing this upward trend.

The question, however, is whether this trend will be sustainable, particularly in the current climate. This is very much driven by public attitudes and behaviour – how the public views EVs, their interest towards them, and whether they see their value. At DG Cities, we wanted to understand the attitudes and behaviours behind the current trends - and from these, assess what could be done to further drive the transition.

In 2022 we surveyed more than 400 members of the public, in order to take a deeper look at their attitudes towards EVs. Our study showed that:

• One fifth (19%) of respondents are very likely to purchase an EV in the coming 12 months – however 50% are not intending to shift. This group needs support to transition, as it is unlikely that a fifth of vehicle owners transitioning is enough.

• The major barriers to EV adoption are cost, perceived lack of charging infrastructure, and range anxiety. These issues are in line with other studies, which highlight the persistent nature of range anxiety.

• Responsibility for installing chargers is split across different stakeholders, with three-fifths (60%) thinking that it should be the responsibility of energy companies, whilst just over half (54%) think that local authorities should be responsible. Few believed that EV owners should be responsible for installing EV chargers.

What can be done to drive the transition?

Our results highlight that there is still untapped demand for EVs, but many of the well known attitudinal and behavioural barriers to adoption persist. Policymakers and industry must therefore collaborate to look closer at the issues, and better understand the underlying drivers of behaviour. It is clear that policies and approaches have been successful in driving early adoption: the market is growing and more vehicles are entering the market. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if current approaches will continue to work in their current form with the significant mass of public who are interested, but are not yet ready to take the plunge.