When will EVs become common?

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aria-label="10 ford mustang mach e charging 1"Mainstream EV adoption will occur when a typical EV costs $48,700, can achieve a real-world range of around 466 kilometres and can be fully recharged in just 31 minutes, according to a new global survey by Castrol and its parent company, BP.

The tipping point for the mass adoption of electric vehicles globally has long hung on significant improvements to charging times and range, as well as reducing the showroom cost of long-range EVs.

Castrol says it commissioned a market research company to interview 10,000 consumers and fleet managers in eight countries (China, India, US, UK, France, Germany, Norway and Japan).

The survey found it will be 2024 before the average global car buyer will start to consider buying an EV, with German, UK and US buyers estimating that their personal interest will not be engaged until 2025.

Although it’s rather more speculative, the car buyers surveyed have an even less encouraging view of when EVs will become the mainstream choice. The average estimated date across the eight countries was 2030, but British and Japanese motorists estimated that it would be 2033.

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It is probably the huge government support and centralised planning for EVs that has convinced Chinese buyers that EVs will become mainstream in 2027. Globally, 71% of fleet managers expect most of their purchases to be electric by 2030.

The survey categorised five aspects of buying an EV – price, charge time, range, infrastructure and vehicle size/ type – and asked consumers and fleet managers to rank them in order of importance.

For consumers, price emerged as the biggest concern (38%) followed by charging time (28%) and range (20%). Although this may seem contradictory, if fast charging is easily accessed, ultimate range is not such an overriding issue.

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As for concerns over pricing, all of the consumers globally saw the price of an EV as the number one concern, but it was UK motorists who took the hardest line on cost, with £22,500 (AUD$40,670) the tipping point for buyer consideration. It was £28,500 (AUD$51,470) in Germany and over £31,000 (AUD$56,000) in Japan.

Generations of drivers have got used to filling up a fossil-fuelled car in minutes and, thanks to the rise of diesel engines, getting 800- and 900-kilometre ranges from those few minutes. In light of that universal experience, the motorists surveyed by Castrol seem to be relatively accommodating when its comes to refuelling an EV.

The global average desired recharging time was 31 minutes. Indian and Chinese buyers were the most patient (35 and 34 minutes) and French (27 minutes) the least patient.

Even so, the survey revealed that the people interviewed thought EVs would go mainstream only when they could be recharged as quickly as conventional combustion-engined cars, something rarely mooted by electric car makers.

On the issue of range, fleet managers were more demanding than consumers, with fleet managers expected around 700 kilometres of range from future EVs, whereas consumers expected 450 kilometres from a charge.

However, this survey seems to have put its finger on the EV dilemma. These three requirements – price, range and charging time – are currently in mutual conflict with each other. Building an electric car with the range and charging speed desired by ordinary drivers cannot be sold for the retail prices highlighted in the survey.

The idea, suggested in this survey, that EVs should eventually refuel as fast as a petrol or diesel car must be eye-opening for car makers. That’s because it is generally held that EV charging will struggle to speed up beyond today’s 150kWh chargers, which should achieve 160 kilometres of range in 10 minutes, although this is usually limited to 80% of the battery capacity.

More rapid charging would require more complex in-car electrical systems and more complex cooling management for battery packs..

Which brings the debate back to the seemingly intractable issue of making EVs more affordable but capable of a decent range and very rapid charging. Getting the price of batteries down to well below AUD$140 per kWh is clearly the main roadblock for mass EV adoption.

Hilton Holloway

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