Fewer than 1 in 3 Brits willing to walk 10 minutes to find public EV charger

Just 31% of the UK public would be willing to walk 10 minutes to a public EV charger, according to a new report.

Produced by Motability Operations, the company responsible for running the Motability Scheme, the EV Transiton Tracker found that outside of London the average walk time to a public EV charger is 11 minutes and 56 seconds. In the capital, however, the walk is just three minutes and seven seconds.

The survey also discovered that gaps in local infrastructure are potentially preventing motorists from ditching petrol or diesel and switching to electric.

The group with the lowest confidence in the public charging network is disabled customers, with 37% of them saying they would not consider using the public charging network at all, while 12% of UK adults expressed they felt the same.

In addition to a lack of confidence in the reliability of the public charging network, 12% of disabled drivers on the Motability Scheme expressed concern over a general lack of availability of charge points where they live or how easy it was to find one nearby. This was backed up by 28% of all motorists who felt the same.

Meanwhile, just over half (51%) of all respondents who drive EVs said they feel there are enough public chargers nationwide, while just 24% of Motability Scheme EV drivers agreed.

Following the findings from most recent edition of the EV Transition Tracker, Motability Operations CEO, Andrew Miller, said: “Too many drivers don’t trust that they’ll be able to charge easily, locally or reliably.

“If we’re serious about meeting the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel sales, chargepoints need to be where people live, easy to use, and designed with everyone in mind. Until this happens, we risk leaving thousands of drivers behind.”

Vanessa S, an EV driver on the Motability Scheme, added: “While I see benefits to driving an EV, I struggle with the public network. Not only is it difficult to find chargers, as a disabled person you also have to consider whether the bays will be big enough, cables too heavy, or facilities too far away. I avoid using it.”

A major driver behind improving EV charge point accessibility is Vauxhall, with its its ‘Electric Streets of Britain’ campaign, which aims to identify and support areas in need of on-street charging by lobbying councils across the country.