Zealotry and practicality rarely share a bed

Dr Michael Galvin

Mobility Services Ltd mobilityserviceslimited.com

At of the end of September 2024, there were 1.25 million fully electric cars in the UK. This means that around 3.75% of the 34 million cars on UK roads are fully electric.

With under 4% of the vehicle fleet now all-electric, the problems are legion. The convenience of driving has been adversely impacted even though many of the 1.25m EV owners will be fortunate to have driveway charging.

As an extreme example, the recent evacuation large areas of Florida because of Hurricane Milton flagged the difficulty of electric vehicles needing to be charged en route. And while extremes and one-off events are never a good justification for or against a concept they do provide some lessons. Recent Christmas travel has been disrupted due to the need to queue at charging stations on motorways for hours.

The reality is that, as a country, we are nowhere near ready for such a major change management exercise. I certainly agree that pumping noxious gases into the air willy-nilly cannot be a good thing and we should reduce that activity. But slogans and virtue signaling by politicians together with unbridled zealotry appear to override any level of practicality and that damages this industry.

It should come as no surprise that drivers who were early adopters and first movers in this industry have moved back to petrol and diesel.

Drivers don’t need to find themselves refusing many airport runs and other long journeys because they are not fully charged at the moment a booking comes through. They don’t need to be sitting on a rare, available charging point when they should be earning money.

Neither do they need to spend much time thinking about the business case for paying more for a vehicle, paying the same fuel costs and being less flexible than they were with a petrol or diesel car. This is why drivers in this industry across the country have returned their EVs, and while the majority who wanted to see what the promised land looked like before jumping in are not interested in going electric.

Slogans Don’t Equal Change

Any objections to the speed of transition lead to charges of climate denial. Challenge is no longer an honorable and helpful concept – either you are for ‘us’ or against ‘us’ - whoever ‘us’ are, and no matter what ‘us’ want and no matter what the effect is on me and you!

Drivers are Voting With Their Feet

The growth in rapid and ultra-rapid charging points has been woeful while the rising cost of charging an EV has been spectacular. Advances in range have been pedestrian and therefore it

Any management training course will tell you that shouting at people doesn’t mean that the job will a) get done, b) get done well and c) get done at all. The dream of clean air, clean cities and fewer people dying from health problems caused by vehicle emissions is a virtuous one.

Where I think the desire to do good starts to dissipate is at the practical level. Customers nowadays want everything quicker and cheaper. Fifteen to twenty minutes to deliver a cab in a city was once seen as good service. Three to four minutes is now stretching customer tolerance.

The thought of a customer sitting in the back of a car on the way to an airport in a charging station for 30-45 minutes is a nightmare. Some don’t even like stopping at red lights and zebra crossings!

If a driver is lucky enough to have charging in their street they are among a fortunate minority (estimates vary between 25-33% of drivers who have off-street parking) and may get through a shift on a single charge. But what of the 67-75% who do not have off street charging? What if you only have 20% charge when you get the job of the week and have to say no?

The Options for Resolution

The options to resolve this situation are of course many and varied. More rapid and ultra rapid chargers are needed, quickly and in huge volumes. In London it was estimated that just to satisfy the private hire fleet there would need to be 8,500 rapid and ultra rapid chargers.

As of September 2024, there were 13,706 rapid or ultra-rapid charging devices, across 5,762 charging locations in the UK. Last month, 262 new rapid or ultra-rapid charging devices were added to the Zapmap database.

Of course, in the long term one would hope that battery capacity would increase, that dynamic charging (road to vehicle) would develop and become a reality and that maybe hydrogen may be revisited and become an alternative.

The cost of charging has been allowed to skyrocket and totally remove the concept of electric cars being more expensive to buy but cheaper to fuel. The outcome has been a more expensive car and expensive fuel and less convenience and thereby a loss of revenue earning opportunity. A depressing mix.

While first movers and early adopters of EVs may have been happy to endure some inconvenience, the majority of buyers are not. The industry, and perhaps car owners in general, is now likely to see vehicles used for longer in areas where licensing is being used to push the EV agenda. There may also be more license shopping. In the meantime, let’s hope realism is introduced into the debate and there is solid action to make rapid and ultra rapid charging ubiquitous.