EVs are motoring Marmite: driver divisions laid bare in new survey

We all know how polarising the debate around electric cars can be, with virtual fisticuffs breaking out regularly on social media between the EV evangelists and die-hard petrolheads.

Now the AA has produced a study looking into the views of drivers around electric cars, and has determined that when we think about electric cars we all fall into one of four groups: Rejectors, Doubters, Potentials and Adopters. So which are you?

According to the AA’s research, the EV rejectors make up 22 per cent of drivers, and this group’s members absolutely refuse to consider that they’ll ever be forced to drive an electric car. A further 20 per cent fall into the Doubters category, and these are drivers who feel neutral or unlikely to choose an EV as their next car, and aim to stick with their petrol or diesel choices for as long as they can. 

On the pro-EV side of the see-saw, the Potentials are the biggest group out there, and consist of the 52 per cent of drivers who say they’re highly likely to purchase an EV as their next car, or in the next five years. The final group is Adopters, which, as the name suggests, is the seven per cent of drivers who have an EV or have driven one in the past.

While Auto Express readers are pretty genned-up on EV topics, the AA study revealed some fascinating insights into the high level of misinformation around EVs that’s evident in the wider world at large. It says many drivers don’t realise that petrol and diesel cars will become increasingly rare in new-car showrooms as the ICE ban approaches, while a sizeable chunk - seven per cent - believe that sales of both new and used petrol and diesel cars will be banned, and a third of drivers think EVs are available with both manual and automatic gears.

Underpinning this information gap is the experience gap, because unsurprisingly a huge majority of drivers - 73 per cent - have never driven an electric car.

To help swing the floating voters into line for the EV transition, the AA believes the government should launch a coordinated public awareness campaign to address the concerns of different groups of drivers, alongside measures to improve affordability and improve the roll out of charging infrastructure.

Which EV group do you belong to? Let us know in the comments section below...