A new survey suggests that misinformation about electric vehicles is still widespread among drivers who don’t own one.
Polling by YouGov for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit found that over half of non-EV drivers scored two or fewer correct answers out of ten questions about EVs, while only 5% scored highly.
Some of the misconceptions were striking:
- Many drivers wrongly believe EVs are more likely to catch fire than petrol cars
- Over half think EVs require more natural resources overall than petrol vehicles
- A majority believe EVs are more expensive to own and run
The data highlights a growing gap between real-world EV drivers and those observing from the sidelines.
The irony? Studies consistently show EVs are cheaper to run and significantly cleaner over their lifetime — but the message clearly isn’t cutting through everywhere yet.
From The EV Café sofa:
“There’s clearly still a huge knowledge gap between people who drive EVs and people who don’t.”
Sam Clarke
“It shows just how much work we still have to do to communicate the facts.”
Sarah Sloman