One in three motorists would consider buying an electric car in the next 12 months, according to the release on a new survey by Motorpoint issued on 17th February.

To quote verbatim: "The online poll by the car supermarket giant found 41% of people quizzed were impressed enough by the new generation of electric cars coming onto the market such as the Mitsubishi iMiEV and Nissan LEAF to invest in one at some point in the near future. Over 1,900 people participated in the study at www.motorpoint.co.uk."

As researchers, we'd just note that no-one betting the farm on EVs should take too much comfort from this. No such percentage of the motoring population at large is ever going to buy any vehicle of any type in the next 12 months (note this was softened to "at some point in the near future")- roughly 10% of the UK car population is renewed annually.

And all should beware surveys of the somewhat ignorant. Granted there has been an enormous volume of media coverage of electric cars over the past year and more, but little of it has been able to make the average citizen familiar with the operational issues concerned with EV ownership.

It's not only retailers in search of a story whose surveys should be read with interest - and a pinch of salt. McKinsey & Co published a recent paper, The fast lane to the adoption of electric cars, suggesting that "Catalyzing early adoption could take less than most auto executives and policy makers think". The authors believed their consumer research on demand for electric cars in very large urban areas showed that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery-only electric vehicles could account for 16% of overall new-car sales in New York, 9% in Paris, and 5% in Shanghai by 2015.

Yet the authors also mentioned in connection with consumer education being critical for catalysing both early and mass EV adoption that, "Forty percent of New York and Shanghai respondents said they didn’t know much about electric vehicles and many were anxious about driving-range limitations. Few knew that battery-powered cars are relatively quiet and can potentially accelerate faster than conventional ones. And more important, many weren’t aware that electric cars help drivers save money on both fuel and maintenance in the long run."

Both electric car makers and politicians need more reliable pointers to how much they should invest in providing infrastructure and incentives to EV buyers.

Toby Procter (See ELECTRIC VEHICLES - Energy, infrastructure and Mobility in the Real World, 2011, on this site.)

Toby Procter

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