A survey of motorists by the UK’s Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership reveals that half of respondents expect their next car to be a battery electric or plug-in hybrid.
In the longer term, beyond 20 years, a majority reckon they will be driving a vehicle powered by hydrogen.
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The process could be speeded up by flipping current thinking and homing in on the second car in the household, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership conference in London heard. Edmund King, president of the UK’s Automobile Association, made the connection between the realities of family car use and how second cars could be circulated into powering an electric car revolution.
He said that 74% of AA members park their cars overnight off the road and on their own land, in driveways or garages, where potentially they could be charged overnight. “Our research shows that second cars are more likely to have access to charging and are less likely to be used for long journeys. We estimate that 2.5m second cars in the UK could become electric vehicles with home charging, they won’t need to be charged away from the home, reducing fears over range or infrastructure.
“The route to introducing an alternative fuel has always been via fleet and business cars, the rationale being that these would start to change opinion by finding their way into the second hand market or convincing business buyers to extend these new fuels into private use.”
King added: “We must look at where EVs might work, instead of trying to shoehorn them into travel patterns for which they are currently not best suited. Even though the purchasing power and volume discounts of car fleets traditionally create a gateway for introducing new but initially expensive technologies, it hasn’t taken off with EVs.”
The AA argues that families should consider diverting more of their available car purchase funds into the second car and make savings on their budgets. Second cars tend to be smaller so the cost of the switch becomes smaller.
