TheChargingPoint.com survey results revealed
By Gavin Conway on February 5, 2012 12:37 PM
The results of TheChargingPoint.com poll are in, and they reveal purchase price is the thing holding most people back from buying an electric vehicle, not worries over how far the car can go on a single charge.
We were most keen to get feedback on the usual bête noirs of the EV world. Namely, range and purchase cost.
On the former, we were impressed with the reasonableness of the response from our 275 respondents, with the largest percentage agreeing that an ‘acceptable’ range for a pure electric vehicle should be between 100 and 200 miles. More than 40% agreed with that, with 38.5% reckoning between 200 and 300 miles is the sweet spot.
When we asked what is the main thing preventing you from buying an EV, a whopping 74.3% of those polled saying it was down to purchase cost. The next most cited reason was ‘range anxiety’, which 38.1% gave as a reason for holding off on a purchase.
Interestingly, 21.2% agreed that there isn’t enough choice in the electric vehicle market, something that will change fairly dramatically in 2012.
For a lot of readers, though, it is the reduction of purchase price that can’t change soon enough. When we asked how much of a premium over a petrol or diesel equivalent you’d be willing to pay for an electric vehicle, 16.9% said up to £5,000 and 18.5% reckoned up to £2,000.
However, a full 41% of respondents said electric cars should cost the same as petrol or diesel models.
It’s not all gloom, though, with a large 62.4% saying they are thinking of buying an electric vehicle. Our readers are an informed bunch, too, with 57.3% saying they help educate friends and family on the subject of electric vehicles.
And, just as we suspected, most respondents are engaged with but not overwhelmingly focused on the environmental aspect of electric vehicles, with 12.8% ‘extremely’ concerned, 43.8% ‘very’ concerned and 38.3% ‘averagely’ concerned about the environment.
Thanks to everyone who took part – it’s massively helpful for us as we move the site forward. For those who were wondering, we picked Lara-Jane (@LaraJaneK for Twitterati) from Lincoln at random as the winner of the £100 incentive.