A third of motorists lack access to off-street parking, which is a psychological barrier to a greater uptake of electric cars, writes Brian Byrne.
When they don't have a personal parking space where they can use a domestic charger, people may think again about investing in EVs, those at a webinar hosted by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) heard today.
Energy and climate change specialist Andrew O'Callaghan (above) of the SEAI noted that range and charging infrastructure 'remains a concern' despite technological improvements. Even though the average car journey in Ireland is circa 15km, and the average range of electric cars sold today is 380km.
However, incentives that lead to charging points being installed at workplaces have shown good results in a number of other countries.
In other jurisdictions, the dealership experience has been found to militate against higher EV sales, the meeting heard. Among the reasons are that it takes on average twice as long to make an EV sale as it does a traditionally-powered car. A smaller post-sale revenue from servicing also seems to be a discouraging factor at dealer salesroom level. Andrew O'Callaghan cautioned, though, that there's no evidence that these issues apply in the Irish market.
Again from research in other markets, it has emerged that motorists who have had a previous experience with electric vehicles in initiatives such as a roadshow or test drive does encourage the EV buying decision.
Andrew O'Callaghan cited roadshows in Canada and New Zealand, and also pointed to the SEAI Energy Shows in Dublin as being a successful precedent.
Test drives, workplace charger grants, and the provision of online tools where relative powertrain costs can be calculated and compared will be part of the 'call to action' initiative through 2021 to encourage greater EV sales.
The webinar also touched on other EV incentives such as allowing special green number-plates, and the bus-lane access trialled in Norway and California.
Andrew O'Callaghan said the bus-lane plan had been controversial. Though a fifth of battery electric vehicle buyers in Norway said cited it as their primary reason for buying an EV, the idea has since been ended there. "Nobody wants clogged bus lanes as the balance to more people buying electric cars."
