Poor availability of charging facilities on a local basis is hampering the ability of dealers to retail both new and used electric vehicles (EVs).
That’s the view of the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) which said there was a direct link between easy availability of charging and likelihood that consumers will make the switch to electrification.
“These are decisions that tend to be made on a local basis. Motorists can see whether chargers in their area are around in large numbers and make an assessment about how easy it is likely to be to use an EV.
“In places where most homes have drives, the problem is much less acute because people will tend to have their own charger fitted but in other locations – especially cities – where apartments and terraced houses are the norm, it is a genuine issue.
“While many dealers now have a much-enlarged customer footprint thanks to digital retailing, most will still make the majority of their sales to customers within a radius of a few miles. If you are trying to sell new and used EVs in places where there are few visible chargers, it is proving to be an issue to a perhaps surprisingly large degree,” said VRA chair Philip Nothard.
The VRA said that the remarketing sector was carefully monitoring government plans to increase the charging infrastructure across the UK for this reason.
“It does very much create a chicken and egg situation. Unless there are a lot of EVs sold in an area, there is no demand for charging but unless there is a lot of visible charging, there is reduced demand for EV sales,” said Northard.