Half of British motorists to go electric in the next five years

More than half of British motorists expect their main car to be electric within the next five years, a new survey shows.

The poll of 1,000 car owners, conducted by Total EV, revealed that 51 per cent of British motorists expect to have an electric car in the next five years.

Change is being driven by men, with 60 per cent of male drivers expecting to drive an EV within five years compared to 42 per cent of women.

Forty-five per cent of motorists cite rising fuel prices as the reason for change while 36 per cent are driven by environmental concerns.

Northern Ireland, where charging infrastructure is more developed, has the highest proportion ready to switch to electric (77 per cent).

However, the survey also showed that there are still barriers to ownership and that the government and automotive industry has work to do to convince every motorist. Problems cited include the cost of vehicles (27 per cent), lack of charging infrastructure (22 per cent), driving range (20 per cent) and lack of knowledge (21 per cent).

Businessman Daniel Green, the founder of Total EV, said: “This survey confirms what we already suspected – that Britain has woken up to the benefits of electric driving. The industry needs to wake up fast.

“There are already 110,000 plug-in cars across the country but as technology and infrastructure improves over the next few years and more manufacturers enter the marketplace offering more choice to consumers, we expect to see a transformation in the number of EVs on Britain’s roads.”