Electric car study encouraging for European market

Another day another EV study

As you know I am not a big fan of expert forecasts for electric vehicles as they have been proven to be as accurate as a bunch of dart throwing monkeys. So today's report from Deloitte's, issued under the negative headline in their press release: 'Mass adoption of electric vehicles still some distance away', should be read with one eyebrow raised.

The figures to support this claim are that 'only 16% of European consumers see themselves as potential first movers to buy or lease an electric vehicle.'

Now the last time I looked at the bell curve, the market for early adopters represented something like 2-3%, so 16% looks like an extremely encouraging number to me.

But wait a minute, a further 53% say that they 'might be willing' to consider the purchase of an EV, with a mere 31% stating that they would not consider purchasing an EV. When you consider what a truly terrible job the vehicle manufacturers are doing at making the case for electric vehicles (ably supported by governments in their ineptitude), then this is a pretty good upside to be chasing.

The small print: range anxiety exists and consumers would like a range of 300 miles per charge (due next year with the Tesla Model S I believe). At 300 miles range, 75% of those asked would consider buying an EV. In London, where electric vehicles are a common sight (the 1000 G-Wiz that GoinGreen put on the streets plus a further 600 or so other EVs) and where media coverage of EVs has been extensive, the range requirement is 200 miles, indicating that with education comes an understanding that you do not need such a high range.

Lower price and lower charging time (2 hours) are wanted by respondents (and the latter is already possible with existing technology). So really it's all about the purchase price.

What a surprise.