Businesses and Charging Port Operators Play Crucial Role in the Sustainable Mobility Transition
- For consumers looking to buy an electric car, one of the main barriers is the expectation of not being able to charge their car fast enough or anytime they need to. Expanding the fast-charging infrastructure is essential to reduce their anxiety. Additionally, potential EV drivers are looking more and more towards businesses and employers to electrify their fleets and extend their EV charging offering on-site.
Should businesses extend their offering of electric cars when employees can choose a business car? According to 57 percent of European citizens, businesses should offer electric cars when offering a business car plan to their employees. Also, potential and current EV drivers agree (~72 percent).
These are some of the findings from this year’s edition of the EVBox Mobility Monitor—EVBox’s market research report on EV adoption conducted alongside Ipsos. The research is supported by responses from over 4000 European citizens across four countries: the Netherlands, France, Germany, and the UK.
The Responsibility of Businesses and Employers to Provide EV Charging Infrastructure Has Increased
Nearly six out of ten potential EV drivers say that offering electric cars would make a future employer more attractive to them. This percentage has increased from 46 to 57 percent compared to the figures from the 2020 EVBox Mobility Monitor report. Looking at the general population, this consideration has grown notably in the UK (33 to 51 percent) and in France (26 to 42 percent).
Not only does offering electric cars make employers more attractive. More and more European citizens actually expect companies to offer electric cars as part of their business car plans—this expectation has risen significantly in comparison to 2020 across all respondents amongst the general population (from 20 to 57 percent), potential EV drivers (from 31 to 73 percent) and current EV drivers (from 56 to 71 percent). As companies cover fuel expenses, EV drivers also expect their costs of charging to be covered by their employers, both at work (70 percent) and at home (60 percent).
Nearly Four Out of Ten EV Drivers Indicate Missing Charging Opportunities at Their Workplace
Knowing that workplace charging is desired by many respondents, reality shows that only 32 percent of current EV drivers report that there are always enough charging ports available for them to use. EV drivers charge their car mainly at home (64 percent) and at their workplace (34 percent). Regarding which countries charge more at work, 40 percent of UK EV drivers charge at work , followed by Dutch (38 percent), and French (33 percent), whilst the number is the lowest for German EV drivers (27 percent).
An incentive to install more charging ports at workplaces could be a governmental policy. Almost half of the general population (48 percent) believes that their governments should provide more tax benefits to forward-thinking businesses that offer EVs to employees and/or electrify their fleets.
Fast Charging as a Key Driver for EV Adoption
Fast charging is seen as a key factor in the adoption of electric cars and demand is increasing—42 percent of the general population and 66 percent of potential EV drivers would switch to electric driving (sooner) if there would be more ultra-fast charging possibilities along the road. One of the main obstacles of not opting for an EV is the perception that charging electric cars is too time-consuming. Fast chargers are the solution to this obstacle.
Not only do fast chargers help with the amount of time it takes to charge a car. They can also support the buildout of charging infrastructure across countries. 39 percent of EV drivers do not believe that the charging infrastructure in their country is well-established, but seven out of ten (potential) EV drivers believe that the targets related to improving the EU’s EV charging infrastructure can be met. The Fit for 55 plan includes (amongst others) the placement of one charging port every 60km along most roads and highways. Additionally, the package sets minimum binding targets for the deployment of charging infrastructure—according to the current proposal, from entry into force Member States would have to provide at least 1kW of publicly accessible fast-charging per BEV* in their country.
In regards to where fast charging is used the most, the results show that service stops and fuel stations (61 percent*) and public and commercial parking spots (53 percent*) are the most prevalent locations. Across all countries, there is a division on where they would like to see more fast chargers, an indication that they are a necessity for EV drivers everywhere.
Almost Half of Future EV Drivers Are Willing to Pay More for Public Charging If Their Car Will Be Charged Faster
Almost half (49 percent) of potential EV drivers are even willing to pay more if their car is charged faster. Compared to 2020, more EV drivers are familiar with the differences between normal EV charging and fast charging (from 64 to 71 percent), but the use of fast charging has declined significantly compared to 2020 (32 percent* never use fast charging compared to 13 percent in 2020) across all countries, but most prominently in the UK. 32 percent use it 1-3 times a month and 16 percent* 3-5 times a month. Looking at Dutch EV drivers, almost half of them never use fast chargers.
EV Drivers Value Aspects Such as Clear Indications of Charging Fees and User-Friendliness of (Ultra) Fast Chargers
Current EV drivers expect (ultra) fast chargers to provide them with all the features necessary to make the charging experience as easy as possible. For example, 46 percent* rank a clear indication of charging fees as the most important feature, followed by user-friendliness (40 percent*), the possibility to spot a station from afar (31 percent) and indicators of the charging status (30 percent*).
Remco Samuels, Interim CEO at EVBox, said:The results of this year’s EVBox Mobility Monitor support our commitment here at EVBox to working together with all parties involved and make the transition to sustainable mobility more accessible for everyone. Future electric car drivers see the need of and have trust in the European Union’s plans on EV adoption and the further development of EV charging infrastructure. In addition, people expect that businesses and Charging Port Operators (CPOs) take their crucial role in this transition seriously and support sustainable choices—for example with more fast charging stations along the road which increases the willingness of people to switch to EV driving sooner. Together with CPOs, fuel station owners and other businesses, we must ensure that those targets are met. This is why we’re constantly working on improving our (fast) charging solutions—they have to grow with our customers’ business, a modular design is absolutely necessary. I’m happy to see that at EVBox we are constantly learning and developing to meet the requirements the respondents point out.
*Limited numbers of observations, for detailed information about the base of each question, please check our full report here.
This article was originally published by EVBox.
