LONDON: In a sign that the greatest fear about electric mobility may no longer be founded, new figures from the UK show that the proportion of electric vehicle breakdowns caused by running out of charge has fallen by nearly three-quarters since 2019.
Just 2.1% of callouts received by the AA motor club from stranded electric vehicle drivers in the UK during the first five months of this year were for depleted batteries. That is down from 8.0% across the whole of 2019.
The AA partly attributed this to a spike in the number of public charging devices, with Zapmap figures showing the total has soared from 24,909 at the end of April 2022 to 42,566 a year later.
AA president Edmund King believes an increase in the number of domestic and workplace chargers is another reason for the drop in incidents of EVs running out of electricity.
The fear of running out of charge – often referred to as range anxiety or charging anxiety – has been cited as a key barrier to people switching to electric motoring.
“Our data on out of charge EVs clearly shows charging anxiety does not match the reality," King said.
“The drop in out of charge breakdowns is a clear sign that range, infrastructure and education are improving. Of course, we need a concerted effort to continue the rollout of reliable and accessible charging to fill in the gaps and to address the problem for those that don’t have off-street parking to charge.”
He added: “There has never been a better time to buy a used EV as many prices have dropped dramatically in the last six months. Once the car has been purchased, the running and servicing costs tend to be much lower.”
This decline of empty battery trouble of course applies to the UK only, where charging infrastructure is being boosted ahead of a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
However, experts believe a mixture of stronger batteries, more efficient power usage and improved charging networks have the potential to reduce the risk of running out of battery for most drivers.
A 2021 global survey found that 88% of electric car drivers said they would buy one again, despite the potential for range issues, with many noting that it's become easier to charge up home or at work. —
PA Media
