We should be moving further and faster along the Road to Zero

There’s a lot of media attention on climate change, air quality and what our government is, or isn’t, doing to tackle these issues. Transport is a large contributor to both problems and clearly something needs to be done and while there is lots of rhetoric and tub thumping about what should be done, things are actually going backwards. People are still buying cars because for many people the cutbacks in public transport means there isn’t a viable, reliable and safe alternative to getting from A to B, particularly in rural areas or patchy public transport. However instead of buying electric cars they’re either hanging on to their older, more polluting vehicle or they’re opting for a petrol-engined car which is more expensive to run and produces more CO2 than their out-of-favour diesels.

We all agree that a pure electric vehicle future is the most likely outcome but the needle isn’t moving fast enough in the right direction because people are worried these cars won’t have enough range for their needs and the charging network just isn’t strong enough to support it. And they’re expensive. Even the cheapest EVs are 40-50% more expensive than their equivalent petrol engine models, and although you recoup some of that via lower running costs and ￡0 VED, most people are understandably wary about having one as their main or only vehicle.

This is where plug-in hybrids come in, cars that can be used as EVs most of the time but have a petrol engine for longer journeys. There’s been a lot of negativity and misinformation around PHEVs in recent months so to get a true picture of how our cars are really used, we commissioned global market research company Kadence to go out to our customer database and ask them how they really use their vehicles. As the market leader in plug-in hybrid vehicles, we figured our data would offer the most useful insight.

One of the main findings of the survey revealed that around half our customers’ average weekly mileage covered in their vehicles is as pure electric vehicles: Outlander PHEV drivers’ average weekly mileage was 179.2 miles with an average of 90.6 miles driven in Electric Vehicle (EV) mode each week. These EV miles are usually during short drives, like commuting and errand running (where traditional petrol and diesel engines are at their least efficient) meaning the plug-in hybrids can make a real contribution to cleaner air in cities, deploying EV mode wherever possible and burning no fuel when stopped or in heavy traffic.

PHEVs can then automatically employ an efficient petrol engine on longer journeys, thereby overcoming the issues facing pure electric vehicles for the immediate future; those of limited electric range, relatively long charging times and the nascent nature of the charging infrastructure in the UK.

With around 1% of new car buyers in the UK opting for a pure electric vehicle, the government risks missing numerous environmental targets, not least its goal of having half of all new cars classified as ultra-low emission vehicles by 2030 and all electric a decade later.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles have an additional benefit in that they help familiarise consumers with electric vehicles, providing the perfect segue to a pure electric future. In fact, the survey reveals that 25% of current Outlander PHEV owners surveyed are most likely to consider a pure electric vehicle for their next purchase.

Perhaps plug-in hybrids will not prove to be the main long-term solution to climate and air problems, that will ultimately most likely be full electric, but we do believe they could be making an immediate impact now and for the next several years if the government offered some form of incentive – be that lower VED and cheaper charging tariffs for overnight charging, a special recharging token that business users could use to offset tax bills – there are all kinds of creative solutions we could employ to ensure that everyone who buys one uses it as intended. Pretty soon there are going to be many more of these vehicles coming to market but without something to incentivise people to buy them, they’re either going to hang on to their older, more polluting car or buy a new petrol car which is nowhere near as efficient as a PHEV.

Swapping a conventional petrol car for one that travels half its average weekly mileage as an EV, a car that makes no noise in urban areas, a car that burns no fuel and produces no tailpipe emissions in cities, a car that can take most people to work and back on a single charge, how can this be a bad thing? And yet the government has turned its back on the technology and the false perception that nobody plugs them in (our survey reveals that 96% are actually charged at least once a week – but more about that in a later post) prevails. Instead of taking our first tentative steps on the road to zero, we should, and could, be getting into our stride by now.