Is Misinformation The Biggest Barrier For Electric Vehicles?

Over the last few years, as interest in electric vehicles has increased exponentially and the ecosystem from raw material suppliers to battery manufacturers and car dealerships has matured, the question of EV hesitancy has remained an issue for many industry figures.

Why are some people hesitant, even resistant at times, to switch to an EV that can save them money, is only as likely to run out of charge as a petrol car runs out of fuel, is easier to drive and is generally more reliable?

Many manufacturers have been working on ways to assuage range anxiety, such as larger batteries, ultrafast chargers, a wider charging network and incentive schemes to install a wallbox at home, but is the problem less about the technology and more about perception?

According to a poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, the overwhelming majority of drivers who do not use EVs are remarkably misinformed about them.

Of the ten true or false questions asked by YouGov about EVs, over half (51 per cent) got less than two correct, 84 per cent got less than half correct, and just five per cent got at least eight out of the ten correct. These scores are even worse in some areas than in previous years.

There was also a serious correlation between people who scored poorly on the test and their desire to get an EV, with people who scored less than two 17 times less likely to want one.

With an energy crisis looming and EVs an option to reduce the effects of surging fuel prices, what are hesitant petrol and diesel drivers getting wrong? More importantly, why do they strongly believe statements about EVs that are incorrect?

 

Why Do People Believe EVs Are More Polluting Than Petrol Cars?

One of the biggest mistakes that non-EV drivers made in the poll was to believe that EVs are more polluting in the long run than petrol-powered cars, when reality suggests they have a third of the lifetime emissions.

The explanation for this can largely be found in another question that non-EV drivers got wrong, which is the belief that more natural resources are extracted to build and power an EV than a petrol car.

The confusion comes with the belief that the emissions that come from mining the rare earth metals (lithium, cobalt, platinum) are higher than the resources used to make and continually fuel the internal combustion engine.

Not only is this not true and becomes less true the longer the EV is used, but the rise of alternative battery systems, such as sodium-ion, means there is an even greater pollution disparity.

 

Why Do People Believe EVs Are More Likely To Catch Fire?

Nearly half (46 per cent) of non-EV drivers surveyed by YouGov believe that EVs are more likely to catch fire than petrol-powered cars, when in reality the opposite is true. Petrol and diesel cars are 80 times more likely to catch fire than EV cars.

Multiple studies have addressed this misconception and demonstrated that EVs are less likely to catch fire than petrol-powered cars, which suggests that the reason why people believe it to be the case is partly the result of sensationalism and partly the nature of news reporting.

Much like how journalists will never write about an aeroplane that did not crash and are more likely to write about a man biting a dog than the other way around, the unusual nature of EVs catching fire means that they are more commonly reported than petrol or diesel cars catching fire, which whilst still not likely, is more intuitively expected.

Another aspect of why this belief has percolated amongst non-EV drivers is less about the likelihood of fire and more about the belief that an EV fire is significantly more difficult to fight than a petrol-powered car when it starts due to the complexities of battery cells.

 

Why Do People Believe EVs Cost More To Own And Live With?

By far the biggest and perhaps most damaging myth when it comes to EV adoption rates is less about safety and more about overall costs.

A massive 62 per cent of non-EV drivers believe that it costs more to own and run an EV throughout its lifetime compared to a petrol or diesel car, when this is simply not the case.

The explanation for this is simply due to the upfront costs; EVs generally cost more to buy upfront than petrol or diesel cars, which means that the savings will come through the rest of the vehicle’s life.

However, given that charging costs are significantly cheaper than refuelling, insurance is often cheaper, and servicing is cheaper due to fewer parts to maintain, EVs are much cheaper to run in the overwhelming majority of cases.