- Expert reveals ten biggest myths about EVs
- Industry-wide issue that needs addressing
- Correcting misconceptions might encourage more to adopt
- Our new Head of Select Electric Shane Pither reveals all
These are the top 10 electric vehicle myths that need busting - from misperceptions about ‘falling EV demand’ to falsities about ‘poor battery longevity’.
The fact-finding mission comes from Shane Pither, the newly-appointed Head of Select Electric at leading UK vehicle lease firm Select Car Leasing.
He’s responding to what he says is a slew of misinformation about EVs which might be deterring motorists from joining the electric revolution.
He’s identified 10 key areas mired in mistakes - and where correcting them might completely transform opinions when it comes to battery electric vehicles.
No-one is leasing electric cars - MYTH
Shane says: “We hear this all the time - ‘no-one wants an EV and sales figures are falling off a cliff’. It’s completely wrong. There’s no drastic fall-off.
The latest stats from the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) show sales of new BEVs are up 13.2% in 2024 compared with 2023. The market share for BEVs in the UK is also up year on year and currently stands at 17.8% of all new registrations. Here at Select we are actually trumping the industry norm and ahead of the curve - with 35.5% of our orders being fully-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
European sales are also up, overall, despite Germany experiencing a recent downtown due to the withdrawal of EV subsidies and incentives.
It’s true, however, that some people still don’t understand how cheap it is to run an EV. A litre of petrol currently costs around 1.40p, whereas charging an EV at home can cost as little as 7p per kWh with cheap tariffs like the one offered by OVO. What does that mean in reality? If you just charge at home on a cheap tariff, it could cost as little as £200 to travel around 10,000 miles.”
There aren’t enough public charging stations - MYTH
“There are now more than 70,000 EV chargepoints in the UK - a 41% increase compared with September 2023, which illustrates the major investment into the charging infrastructure. There are also now far more EV charging stations than there are petrol stations in the UK! And the UK is also on track to reach 100,000 public charge points by summer 2025.
It gets really interesting when you look at how those EV charging stations are actually used. You might expect to see a much higher reliance on public chargepoints now compared with before, as the number of stations increase in line with the number of EVs on the roads. But that’s not actually happening, as EV motorists instead seem to rely on home charging.
A recent report by the Green Finance Institute shows that even though there are more public chargers, the demand levels are the same as in previous years - which tells us that there are more than enough chargepoints to go around.”
EVs are too expensive - MYTH
“This might have been true when electric vehicles were first introduced but we’re seeing more and more affordable EVs coming to the market. Just look at cars like the Dacia Spring or the Citroen e-C3. We’re also seeing price parity between fully-electric vehicles and their traditionally-fuelled equivalents with cars like the Vauxhall Frontera.
One of the key drivers for affordable EVs is the fact that the cost of lithium-ion batteries is falling in line with EV adoption. We’ve actually seen a 90% reduction in battery costs in the last 10 years. The arguments against mass adoption are becoming weaker and weaker.”
The range of an EV is still too small - MYTH
“It’s fair to say that motorists are still worried about so-called ‘range anxiety’, but huge strides are being made when it comes to how far an EV can travel on a single charge. You’ve got cars like the Volkswagen ID.7 and the updated Tesla Model 3 now capable of journeying up to around 430 miles between charges while more affordable family cars like the Peugeot E-3008 have a huge 435-mile maximum range. That’s more than enough for most people, particularly when you consider that the average car in the UK travels around 20 miles per day. Even the very cheapest EVs can now travel around 140 miles before needing a trip to the plug.”
Chinese manufacturers are bad for EV business - MYTH
“Ford recently described Chinese manufacturers as an existential threat to business. Legacy brands are worried about this new competition - but that doesn’t mean consumers need to be. And if you haven’t already considered an EV from China, you definitely should. They produce more cars worldwide than anybody else, and they’ve been doing so for some time now. Stock is rarely an issue, the vehicles are built and supplied promptly, and you’ve got new brands like Leapmotor and Skywell making in-roads into the UK leasing market.
And what about the prospect of increased importation taxes on Chinese EVs coming to the UK? My feeling is that even if tariffs were increased it wouldn’t stop the manufacturers from adapting and still finding ways to get affordable EVs to the UK. After all, how can you isolate a country that’s producing more electric vehicles than anywhere else in the world?”
EV owners immediately switch back to ICE cars - MYTH
“This is one we hear a lot - and it’s nonsense. Once you make the switch on EV from a petrol or diesel car, you’re very, very unlikely to want to switch back.
Multiple surveys by the website Fully Charged Show indicate that the number of battery EV drivers that would return to an ICE car is less than 10%. Other surveys have said similar, including a Zapmap one from October 2023 that found ‘less than 3% would go back to their ICE vehicle’.
If the combustion engine didn’t exist, and someone came up with the design for one today, he or she would be laughed out of the room due to the environmental and health issues we are all aware of. EV technology is here and it’s here to stay.”
Petrol cars will be banned by 2030 - MYTH
“There’s going to be no imminent ‘death’ for the internal combustion engine and, as I keep explaining to customers, there’s life in the old dog yet. That’s because you’ll still be able to get brand-new hybrid cars underpinned by a petrol or diesel engine well beyond 2030.
Let’s look at the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate that manufacturers are working towards.
While a concrete decision hasn’t been announced yet, the new Labour government has pledged to reinstate a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, after the previous Conservative govt put-back that deadline to 2035.
But Labour has already confirmed that brand-new hybrid vehicles will remain on sale up until 2035, giving people much more time to transition to an EV. The only thing we don’t know is what type of hybrid will still be sold up until that 2035 date.
Wording in the Autumn Budget document states: “The government has committed to phasing out new cars that rely solely on internal combustion engines by 2030 and that from 2035 all new cars and vans sold in the UK will be zero emission.”
And remember that even after a petrol and diesel ban, you’ll still be able to buy a used vehicle with a traditional combustion engine.”
Manufacturers are falling well short of ZEV Mandate targets - MYTH
“It’s a relatively complex picture but some manufacturers are going to meet targets, some are falling just slightly short, while others are a way off yet. So It's unfair to say that we’re miles off meeting the ZEV Mandate.
The mandate itself requires that 22% of new cars and vans sold in the UK in 2024 are zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
Brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are bang on target while manufacturers like SAIC, who are behind MG Motors UK, and Geely, who own brands like Volvo and Polestar, are well above target.
There’s also a little wriggle-room automatically built into the system. Manufacturers can trade ZEV credits among themselves to meet targets - with Tesla benefitting enormously from that system.
From a manufacturing point of view, we know that taking a car from the drawing table to the forecourt takes around eight years. If you look at their EV roadmaps, every manufacturer is already geared-up to having a fully-electric fleet by 2030, they’re just taking different routes to get there.”
Manufacturing EVs produces carbon, so they’re not actually very ‘green’ at all - MYTH
“One of the big arguments against EVs is the notion that there’s still a carbon footprint that ruins any green credentials. But let’s look at the facts. For an EV to ‘break even’ when it comes to carbon emissions - ie, the point is when it makes up for the emissions produced during its manufacturing stage in its consumption stage - it needs to be driven for around 20,000 miles. When you consider that some EVs have now covered more than 400,000 miles on their original battery, the green credentials are obvious.
Even if you STILL don’t buy into them, we can all agree that electric cars don’t have a tailpipe. And we know that tailpipe emissions kill 40,000 people every single year in the UK. Is that alone not reason enough to switch to an EV?”
Batteries in EVs won’t stand the test of time - MYTH
“As the above illustrates, the batteries in EVs need to be replaced much less often than people might think. We recently heard about a 2016 Tesla Model S which had covered more than 400,000 miles on its original battery and which had only lost around 65 miles of range from its official rating despite being fast-charged a couple of times every day. And we’re hearing those stories more and more frequently. The key point here is that EV batteries are manufactured to outlast the cars they power, and most EV battery warranties cover it for 100,000 miles or eight to ten years.
You’ve also got to consider the second and third life implications for EV batteries, where they’ll be used for things like residential energy storage. They’re not just going to disappear into the nearest landfill.”
** Thinking of leasing a fully-electric vehicle? You should also consider a Salary Sacrifice arrangement, where you can save up to 40% on a brand new EV. To find out more, whether you’re an employer or employee, head to the Select Car Leasing Salary Sacrifice pages.
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