Only one in nine EV drivers would go back to petrol or diesel

Only five per cent of electric vehicle drivers would ever go back to a conventional car, according to a survey conducted by YouTube's Fully Charged channel.

7,723 people responded to the survey and found that around nine out of ten plug-in car drivers would never go back to petrol or diesel.

Fully Charged’s host, Robert Llewellyn, commented: “I have been banging on about Electric Cars, Solar Panels and Batteries for the best part of 10 years, so it’s incredibly gratifying to see the excitement that our viewers have for all things cleantech.

"Having experienced how impressive electric cars are, we were not surprised to see so many other drivers saying that they won’t go back to the combustion engine, but it might shock those that have yet to switch. Perhaps, more surprising was that two-thirds of our audience who are yet to buy an EV intend to do so in the next two years.”

According to the survey, 56.89% of respondents that do not yet own an electric vehicle, intend to acquire one by the end of 2020, with three quarters planning to purchase a pure Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), as opposed to a Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV).

What's holding consumers back from buying an EV is neither the lack of attractive, available options, nor the lack of charging infrastructure. Rather it’s the perceived cost of new (33%) and used (14.9%) Electric Vehicles.

While the Fully Charged audience typically has a high proportion of ‘early-adopters’ with an almost equal interest in EVs (88.67%) and Clean Energy/Renewables (88.61%), the survey shows that they are more interested in new technology itself, than the problems those technologies might mitigate against, such as air pollution (39.83%) and climate change (44.39%).