WNYC.org reports on a study from Norway that sheds a little light on what kind of person is buying electric cars, and how they drive.
The Institute of Transport Economics in Norway concludes that the typical early-adopter of an electric vehicle is likely to be a man, probably middle-aged, living in or near a big city who has a high income and education level, according to a literature review of various studies from multiple countries. One French study found the early adopters also tended to work in industries that exposed them first hand to EVs before buying one, such as electricians, or government workers in municipalities with EV fleets.
This scan of studies paints a picture that EV adoption is still far from widespread, but that the very act of owning an EV might change the owner’s behavior and government polices can influence the choice to own an EV.
The early-adopters tend to live in households with other cars, hinting that EVs are being used as a second car and potentially replacing public transit use rather than gas driving.
That said, EV owners drive differently, the researchers conclude. Drivers of electric cars tend to use their EVs for commuting and choose their routes more carefully than gas guzzling drivers, and thus tend to choose toll roads more often too.
Explaining why needs more research, but presumably an EV driver is more aware of wasting mileage out of fear of running out of battery, indicating that fear of running out of energy is a far better incentive to choose the most direct route than having to pay extra for wasted gas. The researchers write:
"Adjustments drivers have to make when driving an EV include better planning of journeys – due to battery limitations – and adoption of a smooth (non-erratic) driving style. Motives behind the purchase are the special regulatory advantages (such as in Norway), environmental considerations, lower operation costs and simply the convenience and fun it is to drive these vehicles. Taxes and incentives play a large motivating factor in increasing EV adoption, and also guiding who does that adopting."
Much of the study dives into Norwegian EV adoption and the impact of polices there to encourage EV use, such as tax waivers and letting EVs drive in bus lanes.
In the Norwegian studies, which are more detailed than the international ones cited, people drove more once they got an electric vehicle. That makes some sense considering that each additional mile is cheaper for an EV owner than a gas-powered car. As it turns out, some of that increased driving was due to people who were using EVs as a substitute for public transit.
The literature review also scanned surveys of popular perceptions of EVs across countries and found wide variations with two common negative perceptions: range anxiety and battery charging hassle factors. People didn't want to have to take the time to charge their car, and they feared running out of juice on the road. People who actually own EVs, however, were less likely to cite range worries, according to one French study. Interestingly, price complaints were less commonly cited.
Positive perceptions were pretty much as one might expect: EVs were credited as being environmentally-friendly and making less noise. They were also associated with easy parking, presumably because in some countries, parking spaces are reserved for EVs to charge in, of parking fees are waived. In Norway, EVs are given free parking permits.
All of this is just a small glimpse at that demographics and behavior of a small group of auto consumers. It's early yet to say who will come to like the electric car. One lesson from this research seems to be how easy it would be to change the face of EV ownership through policy. The more incentives there are to go electric, the more people--and the wider range of people--who will do it.
Meanwhile the BBC website has also filed a report on who drives electric cars:
Meanwhile the BBC website has also filed a report on who drives electric cars:
Owners talk of the cars being fun to drive and being much cheaper to run than petrol or diesel. They can also be more environmentally friendly if the power they use is generated by renewable energy.
However, anyone living in a flat, or even a terraced house without a drive, could find them impractical to charge. And once fully-charged pure electric vehicles are usually not practical for long journeys, as there are very few fast-charge points.
So, who drives electric cars and what do they think?
Charlie Fraser drives a Renault Twizy
Charlie wants to be a racing car driver but for now he has to be more practical in his choice of vehicle.
The 21-year-old from Paisley drives the Renault Twizy, a two-seat electric vehicle.
He says: "I think it is the future and it was a much cheaper option than anything else."
Charlie says he gets a range of 35 to 40 miles from a full-charge but he is lucky to be able to power-up the car for free at Braehead shopping centre, where he works.
He says it takes about three-and-a-half hours to charge so it is usually topped up by the end of the day.
The Twizy is very much the compact end of the electric car market.
It is a two-seater, but Charlie explains: "If you have got a passenger in it does not really have room to store anything."
At almost £7,000, it is not exactly cheap but Charlie reckons it works out better value than getting the bus or the train.
And he says it is fun to drive.
"People don't think much of it at first but once they have been in it, it changes their mind.
"For around town you can squeeze through places and get places other people can't.
"From 20 to 30 mph it is really quite nippy. When you are pulling off, because it is silent, the first thing you notice is the movement not the noise of the engine. You just move."
Callum Burnett drives a Mitsubishi i-MiEV and a Nissan Leaf
Callum Burnett and his family have three electric vehicles, which they charge at his farm near Insch in Aberdeenshire.
Callum, 65, and his son Robert, 30, run Nissan Leafs and they also have a Mitsubishi i-MiEV.
"The iMiEV was bought as a second car," Callum says.
"We were short of a car for my wife to drive to work and back and wanted something really small.
"We found we could buy it through the business and there was a tax advantage.
"She uses it for a 30-odd mile commute backwards and forwards to work."
He says they soon found they were not using their diesel car at all.
"It was sitting for months on end. Everyone would just prefer to use the i-MiEV."
So he bought another electric car, the Nissan Leaf, which is larger than the i-MiEV and has a longer range.
Callum says the range which the cars can travel varies according to the conditions and the way they are driven.
Of the Leaf, Callum says: "You can get 80-odd miles if you drive it carefully. If you drive it hard, just like a petrol car, you can halve the consumption quite easily."
Callum's son Robert works at Aberdeen harbour and does a 30-mile drive into work and the same back in his Nissan Leaf.
Robert's work has installed a plug-in point so he can charge it and this gives him extra range if he wants to use it in the evenings.
However, Callum says that the current infrastructure for charging means that his son would not attempt a long journey.
Andrew Bissell drives a Tesla roadster
It is a pure electric car but it is also a high-performance sports car and has a price tag to match.
Andrew says: "It's an electric sports car which was made in Norfolk on the Lotus production line, the same production line which makes the Lotus elite.
"The car is designed by Tesla in California but actually it was made in Britain and it's got about a 200-mile useable range every day between charges and it does 0 to 60 in under four seconds. So it is a fairly quick car."
Electric cars tend to have good acceleration because all the power goes to driving the car but this one is extremely fast.
Andrew says it is a fun car to drive but he also had wanted the extra range that the 53kWh battery could provide.
He says: "I wanted to be able to go far because I wanted to be able to do everything I normally do.
"If someone says they want a meeting with me in Aberdeen or Perth, Glasgow or Newcastle, from my base near Edinburgh, I want to be able to jump in the car and go."
He adds: "I could have solved the problem by buying a plug-in hybrid like the Vauxhall Ampera but they weren't available three years ago when I bought this. At the time it was the only choice."
The cost of the car might be high but the costs of running it are nowhere near as much as an equivalent petrol sports car.
Instead of something in the region 20p per mile for a petrol car Andrew says he uses off-peak electricity at a rate of 7.5p per kWh.
At 3 miles per kw/h that is a cost of roughly 2.5p per mile.
Electricity pricing rates vary enormously as does the amount of power used per mile but it would be difficult for electric cars to currently work out more expensive on the price of fuel alone.
Andrew says he bought the car because he was excited by the technology but admits it is not a "completely rational choice".
John Mckenzie drives a Vauxhall Ampera
"It is not a hybrid," says John Mckenzie, a 38-year-old helicopter pilot who owns a farm near Dingwall in Ross-shire.
The Ampera is an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (E-Rev). The selling point of the E-rev is that is cuts out "range anxiety" because if the electric charge in the battery runs low the car can use petrol to generate more.
John says: "Petrol never drives the wheels. It is always electric that drives the wheels.
"The petrol drives the generator which makes electricity which turns the electric motors."
John says his regular commute to Inverness airport can be done purely on battery power.
However, he often flies from Cumbernauld airport and Edinburgh and this distance would not be possible in most electric cars.
With the Ampera he can drive 50 miles and then switch to petrol.
John adds: "I have driven the Nissan Leaf and the G-Wiz but I couldn't purchase one of these cars knowing that I would be constantly looking at how many miles to go and knowing I could miss a flight because I had run out of electricity."
He says even when they put in charging points along the A9 he would have to stop and wait for too long to make the journey practical.
John says he wants to be environmentally friendly and is generating his own renewable energy from solar, wind and hydro schemes on his farm but there also has to be an economic consideration.
"I am very passionate about Scotland and the environment but at the same time I can't put myself on the breadline by being silly and having a car that runs out of fuel or stretching myself."
He bought the car through his business and the high price of the Ampera - more than £32,000 after the £5,000 government grant - is partially offset by it being 100% tax deductible and having zero road tax.
John says the technology is getting better and batteries are lasting longer.
"It is like mobile phones," he says.
"They used to weigh 2kg and now look, technology moves fast. Somebody will probably come up with a battery the size of a few Duracells and it will power the car for hours on end.
