How to Get More UK Drivers to Literally and Figuratively Plug In
As the UK heads into its first May bank holiday, thousands of drivers will be loading up cars, setting sat-navs for Cornwall or the Peaks, and bracing themselves for busy roads, packed service stations, as well as eye-watering petrol prices.
For drivers with EVs, and those who might be road-testing an EV rental for the long weekend, these road trips avoid pricy petrol but may come with an added layer of planning and worry: Will there be chargers along the route? And will they be available, or even working? Will I have the right apps and know how to use them?
There’s no question – EVs are the future. But there’s still much to improve, argues Lisa Bunting, as she shares her perspective on what’s working, what isn’t and how the industry can better support drivers to make the switch.
EVs are cleaner, quieter, cheaper to run, and increasingly better to drive. There’s so much going for EVs but, frustratingly, still so much going against them. Which is why 96.5% of road users are still yet to make the switch and truly benefit from EVs.
I’ll be upfront. I’m a huge fan of EVs and – working in energy research – I believe they are a fundamental asset in the energy transition, and a foundational technology of our future energy system. EVs are helping us decarbonise a historically intensely carbonised industry – transport – but also counteract the expensive and challenging grid infrastructure upgrades by unlocking demand side flexibility through Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology.
Grid congestion costs the UK up to £1.2bn annually. And infrastructural updates to reduce this are extremely complicated. Challenges stem from a combination of backlogged projects, governance complexity, planning delays, cost pressures, supply‑chain constraints, and the sheer scale of infrastructure required to make the updates.
But there is a white horse, and it’s arrived silently – on four wheels.
EVs are clean mobility, yes, but more excitingly they are batteries on wheels that can support homes, stabilise the grid, and accelerate the transition to local, distributed, resilient energy. In short, they can help the grid stay cleaner and cheaper so more households can benefit from greener and fairer energy. By 2050, 45% of EVs are expected to have V2X capability, with V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) technology projected to be able to cut peak demand in the UK by 32 GW1. So what’s preventing wider uptake of EVs? Let’s unpack the roadblocks.
Battery anxiety
When you ask consumers what’s holding them back, one worry consistently tops the list: battery life. The interesting point here is more EVs are being leased than financed. That means the perceived “risk” of future battery degradation is largely irrelevant to the real buyer experience. Drivers aren’t owning an asset that’s likely to depreciate so anxiety around battery life is relieved.
Leasing EVs also helps overcome the current challenges of the second-hand EV market. While the second-hand EV market is still quite small, consumers are nervous to purchase used due to battery degradation. If we can get more used EVs on the leasing market that’ll be a double win.
So how can we take this further? As an industry we could shift our focus away from the consumer, towards business. If we can convince more businesses to offer employees EV leasing through benefits and incentives, we could see hundreds of thousands more drivers make the switch sooner.
Range anxiety and public charging safety fears
Anxiety again. Anxiety is often born from uncertainty. When we feel uncertain about a situation, we feel an increased likelihood of something bad happening. If someone hasn’t driven a long-distance route before they’re naturally going to feel anxious about the availability of public charging – particularly in rural or tourist-heavy destinations such as Cornwall or parts of Wales, where chargers can be fewer and more heavily used during peak periods. Or they may feel anxious about whether they can navigate that specific type of charger. Or anxious about their personal safety at that public charging point.
Change is uncertain and it’s our job as an industry to empower people with knowledge, confidence and the right tools and infrastructure to navigate change – particularly one as exciting as the energy transition.
So how do we take this as an action?
We need more public chargers, especially outside London and the South-East. We need better interoperability, so drivers don’t need to download multiple apps for multiple chargers – we need to make it as simple as payments at a petrol station. And we need safer public charging environments so all drivers, including women, feel comfortable using them.
The recent inaugural Global Women in EV Day was a great milestone for stakeholders across the automotive and transport industries to ensure a fairer, more inclusive switch to electric vehicles. Women make up 50% of drivers, yet only around 28% of EV purchasers. We need to change this by making the world of EVs more inclusive and built for all genders.
Lack of clarity and confidence on ROI
The upfront cost of an EV is often higher than petrol vehicles, but the long-term running costs of an EV is lower. So while drivers might be deterred by the upfront investment, we need to help them feel confident in the savings they’ll make in the years ahead. Drivers could start seeing an even greater and faster return if their vehicle is equipped with V2G technology. How?
Drivers are paid to share electricity from their EV back to the grid when the nation’s electricity demand is high and their car activity is low i.e. it’s sitting on the driveway. Under the hood it’s a complex technology based on the simplest of principles – buy low, sell high. All drivers have to do is opt-in, then plug-in. Essentially, when you get home from work, your car goes to work.
V2G is not yet widely available but it’s something we at Energised Futures are focused on scaling up so more people can access this tech, and play an active role in the energy transition and – importantly – benefit from this role.
Scaling up the EV support team
A recent report from the Institute of the Motor Industry identified a significant skills gap amongst car mechanics with just a quarter of UK mechanics qualified to work on EVs. We as an industry must work in partnership with mechanics and installers as part of the rollout of EVs. We saw – and are still seeing – a similar challenge in heat pumps, with gas engineers feeling uncertain of the return for their training costs to upskill with consumer demand. But with more heat pumps installed last year than ever before, it’s clear those who’ve upskilled will both acquire and retain their customers. Car mechanics and EV drivers deserve the same – confidence to service and repair vehicles by someone local, knowledgeable, and available.
As an industry let’s rev it up
In summary these are the three areas where industry action could dramatically shift the adoption curve:
- Scale V2X technology so EVs become revenue‑generating assets rather than expensive upgrades.
- Make V2X a talent tool whereby businesses offer EVs that save employees money, gaining a competitive edge in recruitment and retention.
- Make infrastructure more inclusive by rolling out public charging points across all of Great Britain, and making sure those points are accessible to everyone.
- Bring mechanics and installers on the journey so they can support their customers to make the switch and future-proof their expertise.
And as we look toward a future of autonomous, AI-driven travel, one thing is clear: we won’t get there by trying to build a better petrol car. After all, the lightbulb wasn’t invented by improving the candle.
The future of mobility will be cleaner, cheaper and smarter, but also far more connected to the energy system than most people yet realise. Buckle up!
