Electric vehicles uptake curtailed by range limitations

Electric vehicles are more than capable of meeting the needs of drivers that require efficient urban transportation, claims Mitsubishi Motors and Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (CABLED).

In what was the UK’s largest study into long-term low carbon vehicle use, the year-long trial in the Coventry and Birmingham area revealed:

• Why EVs are a viable urban transport solution

• The implications of habitual charging behaviour

• Patterns of energy use during the trial’s 147,000 mile study

As the largest of eight public trials taking part in the Technology Strategy Board’s £25m Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator programme, CABLED, has now collected data that it says can be used to support future decisions relating to transport and infrastructure planning.

The data, taken from 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs and 20 smart fortwo electric drives during the course of the trial, showed that in spite of initial scepticism surrounding the capability of EVs and concerns over range anxiety, they are more than capable of meeting the needs of drivers that require efficient urban transportation.

This is reflected by the finding that most journeys undertaken (77%) lasted less than 20 minutes and only 2% used more than 50% of the battery - enabling a return journey to be made without the need for recharging in the majority of cases. The data also showed a trend towards drivers travelling longer journeys over time - indicating increased confidence and reduced range anxiety.

However, despite proving their ability to deal with short urban journeys their widespread use by fleets will continue to be curtailed because of range restrictions.

Nevertheless, project leader Neil Butcher from co-ordinating CABLED partner Arup believes the data presents a positive outlook for EVs.

He said: “These findings form part of the largest study of low carbon vehicle use ever compiled and, whilst our study is on-going, it’s already clear that EVs offer a viable, practical urban transport solution. We must now consider how our homes, offices and public spaces will need to evolve in order to cater to both users’ needs and the rapidly developing technologies powering these vehicles.”

A year-long study carried out by Mitsubishi Motors and Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (Cabled) found that widespread use of electric cars will be curtailed by range restrictions.

The data showed that the majority of journeys undertaken (77 per cent) lasted less than 20 minutes, which is not suitable for fleet or company car drivers.

Other issues impacting the widespread uptake of electric vehicles by businesses include the lack of charging points around the UK.

However, Zap-Map, a guide to the locations of all the charging points in the UK, now features over 1,000 separate recharging facilities, underlining the progress being made with EV infrastructure in the UK.

Despite the undoubted progress, just 27 of the charging points on the Zap-Map are 'fast' or 'rapid', which are highly sought after by company car drivers.