A new study by Select Car Leasing found that 60% of the UK are still unlikely to consider an electric car for their next vehicle.

Digging a little deeper into what this group saw as the biggest limitations of electric vehicles, the study revealed that many people aren’t considering electric vehicles due to misconceptions that simply aren’t true.

The biggest misconceptions around electric vehicles were found to be:

• There’s too few charging stations.

Almost 47% of those who were unlikely to consider an electric vehicle stated that ‘charging stations are still a little hard to find’. However, the charging infrastructure has been built up across the world and it is now predicted that there could be as many as 14 million charging stations globally by 2030. In the USA, the number of charging stations has increased dramatically since 2008, and has more than doubled since 2013. In the UK, the number of charge points has almost tripled between 2013 and 2017.

• Electric vehicles aren’t good for long journeys.

2 in 5 people stated that a main limitation of electric vehicles was that ‘the slow recharge time meant that they weren’t suitable for long journeys.’ In 2011 the median range for electric cars was 73 miles, by 2017 this had increased to 114 miles, but with some vehicles being able to do as much as 335 miles. If you stick to the recommended guidance of having 15 minutes break for every two hours of driving, you should comfortably be able to manage road trips.

• There isn’t enough choice.

1 in 5 people who wouldn’t consider an electric car stated that the limited choice of make and model were a limitation. This is becoming less and less true every year, while this is still a comparatively new market, the number of models available is increasing every year, as is the variety. In 2017 there were 25 electric vehicle models available in North America,  with Porsche, Jaguar and Mini releasing models in 2019.

• Electric cars are too expensive.

2 in 5 people stated that they feel that electric vehicles are too expensive to buy. While the purchase price of electric vehicles still tends to be more expensive than their traditional fuel counterpart, there are other factors that bring the overall cost down. Most countries have tax incentives for electric vehicles – in the US, this is federalized with the best rate being Colorado that offers an additional tax credit of $5,000 on top of the federal subsidy of $2,500 to $7,500. Looking at running costs, running a vehicle on electricity is over 50% more cost-effective than running a car on gas, meaning the driver can make back the original expense and then some over the lifetime of the car.

• Electric cars aren’t as reliable and have worse performance.

27% of people who are resistant to considering an electric car said that the lack of garages that can service or repair electric vehicles was a factor. As electric vehicles are still in their comparative infancy, this issue will be solved as electric vehicles become more widespread. Similarly, almost 1 in 5 saw the battery performance in hot and cold weather as a limitation.