Telegraph.co.uk: Much scratching of heads and talk of chicken and eggs must surely follow the publication last week of the Government survey, “Public attitudes to electric vehicles”. They might as well have called the report “Computer says no”. Because, while the Department for Transport, Chargemaster, Tesla, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Cenex, the Mayor of London, politicians and a billion other organisations work their backsides off to put in charging infrastructure, improve the life of batteries, build sexy hybrids and pure-electric supercars, give discounts off the purchase price, waive taxes, install home-charging for free, pour money into low-emissions R&D and so on, the public are resolutely sticking their fingers in the ears. It’s seriously depressing.
The public reported that the most important factors putting them off buying an electric car or van were recharging (40 per cent), and the distance travelled on a battery (39 per cent) followed by cost (33 per cent) and lack of knowledge (16 per cent). Less than one per cent (0.3 per cent) of respondents already owned an electric car or van and only five per cent of respondents said that they were thinking about buying an electric car or van.
The most dispiriting finding of the DfT report though, is surely the 69 per cent of drivers, who when asked if they were thinking about buying an electric car or van, answered not “yes” or “no”, but “I haven’t really thought about it”. I find it as mystifying as agnostics: surely you’ve got to get off the fence on the big questions in life.
Dr Daniel Newman, a specialist in electric vehicles at Cardiff University’s Sustainable Places Institute, commented on the report: “These results show attitudes remain ambivalent – despite the fact that electric vehicles have been around for decades. Just one in 20 people are thinking about buying an electric car or van, and only one in 100 actually intend to do so in the immediate future. While 14 per cent of those surveyed had considered the vehicles and decided against buying into the technology, over half of the sample simply hadn’t even thought about it.
“Those who have rejected the vehicles are put off by concerns over the batteries and cost... Others baulk at the hefty prices to buy one of these vehicles, which, despite government subsidies, are still higher than the equivalent petrol and diesel options. These doubts are familiar refrains that continue to hold back electric vehicles despite the efforts of government and investment made by the automotive sector.”
You’re telling me. Problem is, government and industry can’t sit twiddling their thumbs till public appetite is whetted, because when the people hold out their hands, there will be nothing to give them. So the money continues to pour in and ideas to pour out. Cenex, a not-for-profit organisation of experts in low-carbon vehicles and fuels, has been focussing on the countryside, and low-emission vehicles for farms. Its latest report, commissioned by the Royal Agricultural Society of England (Rase), has identified three types of future farm: gas-powered, electric and hydrogen farms. Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex, said, “It is hoped that this report will stimulate awareness and debate, along with an interest to act. Cenex is keen to work with technology developers and farmers to create prototype projects that UK farmers can then learn from and implement in their own operations.
“The benefits of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are most often portrayed in terms of the role they can play in air quality by substituting for cars running on diesel and petrol. However, these vehicle types are also part of a future based on increased energy security resulting from a lessening of our dependence on fossil fuels thanks to renewable energy sources. Questions are being asked about how low carbon energy fuels will be produced – this report highlights the role UK farms could play in this future energy ecosystem.”
Crack on, Cenex, and everyone else. More blue-sky thinking like this is needed, and those agnostics need to get their butts off the fence.
The public reported that the most important factors putting them off buying an electric car or van were recharging (40 per cent), and the distance travelled on a battery (39 per cent) followed by cost (33 per cent) and lack of knowledge (16 per cent). Less than one per cent (0.3 per cent) of respondents already owned an electric car or van and only five per cent of respondents said that they were thinking about buying an electric car or van.
The most dispiriting finding of the DfT report though, is surely the 69 per cent of drivers, who when asked if they were thinking about buying an electric car or van, answered not “yes” or “no”, but “I haven’t really thought about it”. I find it as mystifying as agnostics: surely you’ve got to get off the fence on the big questions in life.
Dr Daniel Newman, a specialist in electric vehicles at Cardiff University’s Sustainable Places Institute, commented on the report: “These results show attitudes remain ambivalent – despite the fact that electric vehicles have been around for decades. Just one in 20 people are thinking about buying an electric car or van, and only one in 100 actually intend to do so in the immediate future. While 14 per cent of those surveyed had considered the vehicles and decided against buying into the technology, over half of the sample simply hadn’t even thought about it.
“Those who have rejected the vehicles are put off by concerns over the batteries and cost... Others baulk at the hefty prices to buy one of these vehicles, which, despite government subsidies, are still higher than the equivalent petrol and diesel options. These doubts are familiar refrains that continue to hold back electric vehicles despite the efforts of government and investment made by the automotive sector.”
You’re telling me. Problem is, government and industry can’t sit twiddling their thumbs till public appetite is whetted, because when the people hold out their hands, there will be nothing to give them. So the money continues to pour in and ideas to pour out. Cenex, a not-for-profit organisation of experts in low-carbon vehicles and fuels, has been focussing on the countryside, and low-emission vehicles for farms. Its latest report, commissioned by the Royal Agricultural Society of England (Rase), has identified three types of future farm: gas-powered, electric and hydrogen farms. Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex, said, “It is hoped that this report will stimulate awareness and debate, along with an interest to act. Cenex is keen to work with technology developers and farmers to create prototype projects that UK farmers can then learn from and implement in their own operations.
“The benefits of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are most often portrayed in terms of the role they can play in air quality by substituting for cars running on diesel and petrol. However, these vehicle types are also part of a future based on increased energy security resulting from a lessening of our dependence on fossil fuels thanks to renewable energy sources. Questions are being asked about how low carbon energy fuels will be produced – this report highlights the role UK farms could play in this future energy ecosystem.”
Crack on, Cenex, and everyone else. More blue-sky thinking like this is needed, and those agnostics need to get their butts off the fence.
