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What Are The Main Misconceptions of EV Cars?

4 min


A recent document by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles showed that there are many misconceptions when it comes to electric vehicles, Quadrant Transport looks at several in detail.

The conversion to EV cars is a crucial step to a net-zero 2050. With the production of petrol and diesel vehicles set to be banned by 2030, it makes now the premium time to switch to an environmentally impactful EV car.

Cc: PICRYL, Flickr.

Electric cars aren’t a recent invention, they’ve actually been around since the 19th century. With the very first model released in 1884 by numerous engineers in London, their popularity swiftly declined due to shrinking oil prices and mass production techniques pioneered by Ford with the Model T in 1908.

As affordable petrol vehicles revolutionised the car industry, it caused the disappearance of the electric vehicle for much of the 20th century. Now, with decarbonisation a huge goal for COP26, we’re starting to shift back to what the 1800s started.

New vehicles don’t come without misconceptions

Minimal charge points and unreliable batteries. Those are just some of the false impressions often spread about the revolutionary cars. Yet, many of those are in fact, myths.

The average mileage of a fully electric car is between 138 (Nissan Leaf) and 320 (Tesla Model S) and according to the 2019 National travel survey: “In England especially, 99% of all journeys are under 120 miles.”

Cc: Pixabay.

This means a lot of drivers needs will be met by a single full charge for any journey. And, with battery prices on the downfall since 2010, and recharge times at just 20 minutes per 100 miles, it makes now the optimal time to invest in an EV car.

Another common misconception about vehicles is that the UK doesn’t have enough charge points available around the country. However, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles’ report stated: “The UK now has more rapid chargers every 100 miles of key strategic road than any country in Europe.”

Industry statistics show that there are over 25,000 public charge points available across the UK and over 4,500 rapid chargers.

Also, with the recent legislation that EV charge points are to be mandatory in all new build homes by 2022, it means there are to be up to 700 new charge points added around the country each month allowing a driver to never be more than 25 miles away from being able to plugin.

Only one per cent of EV drivers want to switch back to petrol or diesel

The main concern surrounding EV cars currently is the cost, and as it stands presently, they’re not cheap. The most popular electric car in the UK is the Tesla Model 3, which has a starting price of £40,990.

Yet, what is less commonly known is that the government currently have a grant for buying new electric cars, with benefits of up to £2,500 if you choose to purchase a brand new fully electric vehicle.

Also, as stated by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles’ report: “They already benefit from a huge advantage in running costs as low as 1p a mile for off-peak electricity, and far fewer moving parts so much lower maintenance costs.”

With production costs reducing, some forecasts show by the mid to late 2020s EVs could also be the same price to purchase as a petrol or diesel car.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that building an electric car generates more carbon emissions than it saves from driving, but this has already been debunked in numerous well-respected studies.

The report states: “It is true that an EV may have higher emissions associated purely with manufacture than a petrol or diesel car. But a new battery-electric car, operated in the UK, has just a third of the lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of an equivalent new petrol car, even including battery production.”

EV manufacturing is getting progressively cleaner as electricity generation decarbonises, and it’s only going to get better as infrastructure and materials advance.

You can read more on the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles’ Common Misconceptions About Electric Vehicles Report.


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