Poll: public confused on petrol car phase-out

When asked how many years they thought they had left buy a new car that you can fill up with petrol or diesel, 45% thought it would happen within the next seven years, by 2030. In fact, it will not be until 2035 that the Government plans to phase out the sale of new cars you can fill with fuel at a petrol station. These hybrid vehicles are not dependent on electric chargers to drive.

The polling also found that two-thirds (68%) of Britons underestimate the number of drivers who have access to off-street parking . The actual proportion of homes with access to off-street parking is around 70% [2]. This allows for the installation of private chargers, which give access to cheap EV-charging tariffs that can allow an electric Nissan Leaf to be driven for less than 2p/mile (compared to over 13p/mile for an equivalent petrol Nissan Juke).

Almost half (44%) of respondents also thought that owning an EV is more expensive than a petrol car, when the reality is that many EVs are cheaper to own and operate. The ECIU found that a four year old second-hand Nissan Leaf would, over the remaining 10 years of its life, save its over £8,000 in total ownership costs compared to a Nissan Juke petrol equivalent.

More than half of Britons (52%) know a friend or family member with an EV - and of those 74% said that person had a positive experience of it.

Latest industry sales figures show growing demand for EVs, with almost one in five new cars sold in June a battery electric vehicle, up 40% year on year [3].

Previous ECIU analysis has found that by slowing down the sale of new EVs, the second-hand EV market will suffer leading to second-hand drivers missing out on £9bn of savings that come from driving electric [4].

The UK car industry has said the switch to EV manufacture could be worth £106 billion [5]. Currently 80% of UK-made cars are exported – of these 71% (i.e. 56% of total UK car manufacturing) go to three large markets – the EU, China and 16 US states – that are introducing electric vehicle targets that will heavily restrict the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles. If the UK fails to respond to these changes in demand and develop its electric vehicle manufacturing base, analysis by the ECIU suggests that the UK could lose £13.3bn of car exports in 2030 alone – a collapse in export revenue of nearly 60pc, putting hundreds of thousands of British jobs at risk [6].

The Government’s phase out dates will allow new hybrids will be on sale until 2035. However the Climate Change Committee’s recent Progress Report to Parliament quotes findings from the International Council on Clean Transportation that the carbon savings from plug-in hybrid (PHEV) cars are around three to five times lower in the real world than previously assumed [7].