Convenience versus doing the right thing. We face quandaries like this many times every day. But the stakes are higher when looking at this equation for driving, and specifically around our choice of how a vehicle is powered, because our failure to ‘do the right thing’ has consequences for the planet. It’s that important.
Even with the COVID pandemic, climate change represents the biggest threat to civilisation. As a nation, the UK produced over 326 million tonnes of CO2 in 2020. The transport sector accounts for roughly 28% of this figure. If the UK is to meet the Government’s net zero targets we need to break our dependency on burning fossil fuels to power our transport needs.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) won’t solve every problem, but they can go a long way in helping the UK to meet its commitments on CO2. Over the last decade, EVs have become a more viable, practical option for many consumers and businesses. Battery capability (and therefore range), price point and increased choice have all helped.
So why haven’t EVs become the default? It comes down to three barriers — all flavours of convenience:
- Where can I charge up? The availability of public charging points is often ranked as the biggest barrier to EV uptake. But the challenges of developing a national charging network go beyond the required investment in charging facilities.
- How much will it cost? The decision on refueling by petrol or diesel is limited to which garage has the lowest price. For EV charging it’s more confusing, there are multiple charging point providers, choices around monthly subscriptions and slow or fast charging options.
- How do I learn a new behaviour? The shift to EVs requires consumers to be more mindful of their vehicle’s limitations. But if EVs are just a like-for-like replacement for fossil fuel-powered cars, then we’re missing a trick. There’s a bigger transformation prize in using EV introduction as the trigger to rethink our full set of travel needs and how we meet these.
Thankfully there are tangible ways of lowering each of these barriers. For example, on-site energy production (through solar, wind or hydrogen) would cut the reliance on national energy infrastructure and prevent CO2 emissions from simply being pushed ‘up stream’.
Regulation will play a key role in demystifying the pricing deals for EV charging. There are numerous examples to learn from, such as the ‘four party model’ for credit card payment and settlement, underpinned by the premise that making payment simple, consistent and pervasive will grow the market for all providers.
Effecting lasting behavioural change is a more challenging nut to crack. But we shouldn’t consider EV adoption in isolation. Rather, they are in the mix alongside a data revolution and changes in people’s travel choices. The data revolution, most evident as we examine progress towards smart cities, will provide better real time information on traffic, weather conditions, and charger locations and availability. But it can also inform better choices on which mode — or combination of modes — would be best for each journey. EVs have a role here, and should be a vital part in the vision of smarter mobility.
The Government’s ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 means we need to take rapid and decisive action now to step up the number of EVs on our roads. While the technology will continue to evolve, it is sufficiently advanced already. The revolution needed now is to make EVs the most convenient means of car travel and to embed them into the UK’s future integrated travel offering for a more tech-savvy, more environmentally aware travelling public.