Reducing the price of public EV charging could help the UK car market reach the Government’s ZEV Mandate, according to new research.
Polling by ChargeUK found that the number of people who would consider an EV would increase by 48% if charging was reliably cheaper than petrol.
The industry body said the results challenged the idea that the mandate targets need to be weakened. It urged the government to take steps to make public charging cheaper before softening goals for EV sales.
The study polled 2,130 people, asking half of the sample if they were to purchase a new vehicle in the next year how likely it would be to be an EV and the other half the same but with the assumption that public charging prices are lower than petrol.
It found that the proportion who would consider an EV jumped from 25% to 37% based purely on fuelling/charging costs.
That would push new EV sales beyond the 33% required by the end of this year and close to the 38% target for 2027.
The automotive industry has been campaigning to soften the ZEV Mandate targets, claiming they are unachievable in the current market. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders recently revised its EV forecast upwards but says they will still make up just 27.4% of registrations by the end of the year.
The cost of public charging remains a key battleground in the EV transition, especially following the announcement of a temporary VAT cut on domestic energy this winter.
EV owners who charge at home already enjoy massive savings compared with petrol drivers. EV running costs are as low as 2p per mile on a dedicated overnight tariff compared with around 16p per mile for an average petrol car. However, for drivers with no access to public charging, costs can reach between 15p and 22p per mile depending on their mix of standard and ultra-rapid charging.
Among the levers ChargeUK wants the Government to pull is cutting VAT on public charging from 20% to 5% as part of its cost of public charging review.
Jarrod Birch, head of policy and public affairs, ChargeUK said: “The case for weakening sales targets rests on the claim that drivers will not buy electric cars. These results, combined with a post-Iran sales boom, blow a hole in that argument. They show that government has a huge demand lever left to pull, one that they already have a hand on through the public cost of EV charging review.”
Vicky Edmonds, chief executive office, EVA England said that narrowing the gap between public and private charging would unlock “significant” additional demand and make EV ownership fairer.
Ian Plummer, chief customer officer at Autotrader, said that the EV transition was “ exceptionally cost sensitive” and called the cost of charging review the “best chance£ for the government to address running cost inequality.
He added: When more affordable new electric models entered the market, drivers flocked to them and similarly when used electric cars reached price parity with petrol equivalents, they became incredibly popular. And conversely, when petrol prices soared, interest in electric cars on our platform rocketed – clearly highlighting that upfront and running costs benefits are essential to persuading consumers to make the switch. ”
