A long-term trial of electric vehicles in the West Midlands has shown that driver confidence in EVs increases over time.
The study, known as Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (Cabled) consortium, was designed to test the feasibility of low-carbon vehicles.
It lasted for 27 months and comprised 110 electric cars and drivers, who collectively covered more than 640,000 miles.
The results showed that the more time drivers lived with an electric vehicle, the less they became concerned by range anxiety and that they were making longer journeys over the life of the scheme.
They also became more familiar with their local charging infrastructures over time.
The average topping up charge time for cars participating in the scheme was two to three hours, costing drivers between 30-80p.
Cabled’s project leader Neil Butcher said: “We have seen behavioural trends emerge that prove electric vehicles are an affordable and highly practical transport solution, so whilst the number of EVs currently in use is small we foresee the number growing to somewhere between 5-10% of global vehicles sales by 2020.”
Cabled is one of eight projects that are part of a £25 million Government trial exploring the usability of EVs.
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