UK Study Shows Key to EV Transition: Drive One

Source: Tesla

A recent study conducted in North East England revealed that once people have driven an electric vehicle (EV) they are more open to driving and buying an electric vehicle than before. Not surprisingly, the main issue to overcome amongst drivers is range anxiety.

The six month field test headed by Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon vehicle technologies, provided 10 organizations one to four electric Smart cars for their fleets. Test results were complied via questionnaires completed by fleet users, fleet managers, and people test driving EVs during the three public drive events organised during the project.

Data revealed that range anxiety significantly affected the utilization of the EVs. 93% of users only began drives if the battery was over 50% charged while the greatest distance of the drive rarely went beyond 25% of the vehicle’s available range. When the battery charge dropped below 50%, users driving behaviour altered dramatically.

Overall, users reacted quite positively to EVs. 58% of fleet test users and managers said they felt more positive about EVs while 72% of test drivers from the public drives said they would consider using an EV rather than a regular car.

The study suggests that a range prediction tool is needed for widespread integration of EVs. Users are cautious of battery capacity and distance reliability. Most importantly from a Greenlots perspective, the study revealed that drivers of organizations which had charging points in place had an overall more positive EV experience and ranked their experience higher than those who did not have easy access to charging stations. According to the study, drivers who had easy access to charging stations were also more efficient in charging their EVs and charging the EV in between drives.

You can read more about the study here: http://www.cars21.com/content/articles/2010-05-06-ev-field-test-shows–once-you-drive-one-you-want-one.php

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