Electric Vehicle Association (EVA) England has revealed results of a survey regarding public chargepoints it carried out with over 1000 electric vehicle (EV) drivers in England. The survey looked at the drivers’ views about their experience with public chargepoints, in response to the UK government’s consultation on the ‘Consumer Experience at Public Electric Vehicle Chargepoints’.
The survey highlighted widespread support for the rollout of contactless credit and debit card payments. Plus, being able to use one charge card (also known as an RFID card) or app across multiple charging network operators, along with higher levels of reliability.
The survey also discovered the importance of the public charging network, even to those with off-street parking. It found that 92 percent of electric vehicle drivers relied on the public charging network at least once a month.
Gill Nowell, Director at EVA England, said: “There are many benefits of making the electric switch, from the pleasure of driving to improving local air quality. With automotive manufacturers, fleets and businesses all now choosing to go electric, we need to improve the consumer experience at public chargepoints to take EV adoption mainstream.
“Based on the outputs of this survey, paving the road for the mass adoption of EVs looks like contactless card payments, roaming, consistent chargepoint reliability, simplified billing, and easy access to information about what chargers are where.
“We recognise that the pace of chargepoint deployment is increasing and that the infrastructure going in the ground today is greatly improved from that which was being installed even five years ago. However, we encourage the government to intervene now in order to ensure that all charging infrastructure is reliable, safe and user-friendly, across all driver groups.”
As a result of the survey, EVA England has made several recommendations to Government to help electric car drivers with public charging.
