A new survey from Which? has revealed that 69% of people who use public EV chargers are unhappy with the current infrastructure.
The survey covered 1,004 Which? members who own at least one EV or PHEV, 40% of whom said they were unhappy with the availability of public chargers. The reliability of chargepoints was also brought into question – most of those who had used the public charging network (73%) said they’d found at least one charger that wasn’t working in the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, 60% of public charger users said they had faced a payment issue at least once and only 17% agreed that chargepoints were reasonably priced. A quarter of respondents who had used public chargers in the past told Which? that cost is why they’ve now stopped using them. Pricing transparency was also highlighted by the survey, with 63% of owners saying that they found it difficult to compare prices between chargepoint operators.
Other key findings included:
• 96% charged their EV or PHEV at home at least some of the time, compared to 38% for public chargers
• 49% of EV owners said they use public chargers every few months or less often
• 60% of public charger users experienced a payment issue at least once
• 73% of respondents bought their EV for environmental reasons.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Sue Davies, Which? head of consumer protection policy, said: “We know that people want to make more sustainable choices and switch to an EV, but many drivers have a lack of confidence in the public charging infrastructure – and this also risks alienating people who aren’t able to charge their EVs at home.
“It is positive that the government passed new rules that should see improvements in consumers’ experiences of the public charging network. The government and chargepoint operators must continue working together to ensure the UK’s charging infrastructure is up to scratch. Charging must be easy and reliable to support more people to make the move to an electric car.”
