DfT publishes leaflet debunking myths about electric vehicles

The Department for Transport has published a leaflet targeting some of the most common misconceptions surround electric vehicles.

The leaflet addresses 19 of what the DfT sees as the most common misconceptions regarding electric vehicles, ranging from cost, range and emissions.

One example is the costs associated with electric vehicles. The DfT’s ‘Common Misconceptions About Electric Vehicles’ leaflet reveals an EV can save £176 in running costs for every 1,000 miles driven. This means it can cost as little as 2p a mile to run an EV when charging on off-peak electricity. This is compared to over 20p per mile for petrol and diesel.

It also tackles the issue of charging infrastructure, which has long been the biggest argument against the mass adoption of electric vehicles. In the leaflet, the DfT states that there are over 31,000 public chargepoints available across the UK, a significant increase from 7,211 in 2017. There are also more than 5,800 rapid chargers.

In addition, it also responds to the claim that there are only chargers in London and few in rural areas. According to the DfT, all regions in the UK have seen increases in publicly available chargepoints in the year to April 2022.

In addition to the ORCS scheme, government has also supported the installation of chargepoints in residential buildings and workplaces across the UK, including rural areas, through the EV Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) and the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS). London has received the second lowest number of grants per household in England under the EVHS and the lowest number of chargepoint sockets per person in the whole of the UK under the WCS.

Government will also be providing additional funding to install chargepoints for small accommodation businesses, which are disproportionately found in rural areas. This will help boost destination charging across the UK in such locations.