A brand new survey carried out by YouGov has confirmed that perception in EV myths is holding again adoption, with most petrol automotive drivers scoring only a 2/10 in a quiz about how electrical automobiles work.
The survey was commissioned by the Vitality and Local weather Intelligence Unit (ECIU), an impartial nonprofit within the UK.
Carried out by YouGov, it requested 1,000 UK petrol/diesel automotive drivers ten questions on electrical automobiles, primarily targeted on widespread items of misinformation that has been pushed by the oil trade and different entities that oppose cleaner, higher autos.
The survey discovered that this misinformation is alive and nicely – and notably alive and nicely amongst drivers who haven’t pushed an EV.
Out of the petrol drivers surveyed, a majority of them, 57%, have been solely capable of reply 2 out of 10 questions appropriately, and 90% obtained lower than half right. There have been lots of “uncertain” solutions, so this doesn’t imply they obtained 8 unsuitable, however that’s nonetheless a reasonably excessive failure charge. 23% of petrol drivers obtained zero questions proper.
Whereas we don’t have entry to all the info and questions, listed here are a few of the questions that ECIU highlighted:
- Almost two-thirds (62%) of petrol drivers consider it’s dearer to personal and run an EV, with solely 14% appropriately recognising that EVs are usually cheaper. A report from ECIU discovered that the drivers of the highest 10 promoting petrol automobiles of 2023 can discover themselves paying a petroleum premium of £700 a yr in working prices, in comparison with an equal electrical automotive.
- 41% of petrol drivers incorrectly assume that EVs usually tend to catch fireplace than petrol automobiles, with solely 24% right of their understanding that they’re much less prone to catch fireplace. Proof from EV Fireplace Protected indicated that EVs are greater than 80 occasions much less prone to catch fireplace than petrol or diesel automobiles.
- Greater than half (59%) of petrol drivers thought the UK’s electrical energy grid “won’t be able to manage” with the UK’s shift to EVs, whereas just one in 5 (20%) appropriately recognized this assertion as false. The Nationwide Grid has explicitly labelled this a ‘fantasy’ and is obvious that the facility system will have the ability to address hundreds of thousands extra EVs within the UK.
- 80% of petrol drivers assume the UK just isn’t on target to put in the charging infrastructure it wants, regardless of the nation being forward of schedule to hit its goal of 300,000 chargers on the UK’s roads by 2030.
- Extra drivers (35%) incorrectly believed that an EV’s lifetime CO2 emissions are a minimum of these of a petroleum automotive than appropriately recognized this assertion as false (32%). An EV being pushed within the UK produces 3 times much less lifetime CO2 emissions that an equal petrol or diesel automotive.
Extra EV information = larger buy intent
However the level right here just isn’t that non-EV drivers are ignorant. It’s to indicate how these falsehoods are affecting EV uptake, which in flip means worse air high quality and worse results of local weather change for everybody on Earth.
Of the drivers who scored the best – 8/10 or extra right solutions – 64.6% of them stated they need their subsequent automotive to be an EV. However of the drivers who scored 2/10 or much less, solely 6.1% needed their subsequent automotive to be an EV. So these with essentially the most correct info have been 11 occasions extra prone to need an EV than those that had fallen sufferer to misinformation.
This exhibits that widespread misinformation is affecting individuals’s buying choices, and retaining them from shopping for a automobile that may not solely save them cash on gasoline and upkeep prices, but additionally save all of society from the well being prices of air pollution.
Electrek’s Take
Whereas this survey was carried out within the UK, we’ve seen comparable surveys earlier than through the years, displaying that EV misinformation has fairly a big maintain on the populace in varied nations.
Sadly, the misinformation talked about right here is kind of persistent as a result of it’s consistently being repeated by highly effective entities which don’t need the established order to alter.
Despite the fact that it’s clear we have to change how transportation works due to the huge quantity of air pollution it causes, resulting in poor well being and local weather change, polluting trade would reasonably issues maintain going the identical means they all the time have. So members of the richest and strongest industries on the earth, oil and automotive, are completely completely satisfied to push all kinds of misinformation with a purpose to oppose a change that is coming regardless of what they do.
That’s why websites like ourselves exist – to attempt to demystify electrical automobiles for people who find themselves , to counter this misinformation, and to hopefully convey extra individuals into that “high-scoring” class, in order that we will all acquire the person and societal advantages that EV possession may end up in.
So in case you are one in all these petrol automotive drivers – stick round, learn some articles, ask questions within the feedback, head to EV-specific boards on the web, head to EV occasions like Nationwide Drive Electrical Week, or simply attain out to some EV proudly owning pals of yours and ask them what the expertise is like.
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