Driving range still the biggest barrier to electric driving

People with an electric car are less and less concerned about the driving range. Almost half do not think it is necessary to charge the car every day. That is what Shell Recharge, the charging branch of the oil and gas group, says after the sixth edition of an annual survey. 25,000 EV drivers in Europe were questioned, 7,000 of whom in the Netherlands. Last year, about a fifth of EV drivers indicated that they did not have to charge their car every day. This may have to do with habituation to electric driving and the behavioral change required compared to driving a car with a combustion engine, but the increasingly larger batteries and improvements in the efficiency of electric cars may also play a role.

Nevertheless, the limited range is still the number one barrier to wider adoption of electric cars. This is striking, because the majority of journeys easily fit within the average range of most electric cars. The availability of public charging points is seen as a second stumbling point. Shell has noticed that an increasing number of EV drivers no longer have the option of their own charging point, possibly because fewer expensive electric cars are coming onto the market. Even on the second-hand market, there is now some choice. The acquisition costs therefore fell somewhat in the list of bottlenecks. But that possible stumbling block is still in third place in the Netherlands.

Load at destination

European EV drivers also indicate that they prefer to go to destinations if they know that they can charge their car there. A large proportion choose such destinations over locations where you cannot charge. This is less important in the Netherlands than in other countries. Many EV drivers here have their own charging point at home and always leave with a fully charged car. Finally, there are relatively many public charging stations in the Netherlands.