Electric preferred to petrol cars, among ‘duel fuel’ households

A survey from Zap-Map shows that electric cars are favoured for all kinds of journeys, among EV owners who also own a petrol or diesel car.

Research from electric vehicle (EV) charge point mapping service Zap-Map has shown that around a third of EV owners own a petrol or diesel vehicle too. But its survey of over 4,300 EV drivers showed that, for more than 1,300 ‘dual fuel drivers’ who also have a petrol or diesel vehicle, electric is chosen for the vast majority of journeys.

The type of journey electric is most likely to be favoured for is a local daily trip such as going shopping, the school run or eating out, for which 85% of the time dual fuel drivers will take the EV.

For commutes, 71% these drivers use their EV, and even for journeys of over 100 miles 67% will stick with electric. Even for UK based holidays, likely to involve long cross-country journeys reliant on the public charging network, a majority of 55% will leave the fossil fuel car at home.

The annual Zap-Map EV Charging Survey showed that most EV owners only own electric. 49% drive just one full battery-electric vehicle, 8% two or more and 2% own or regularly use one battery electric and one plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

In addition, 25% drive one battery-electric car and one fossil fuel vehicle, while the remainder drive a mixture of battery electric, plug-in hybrid and/or fossil fuel vehicles.

Satisfaction levels for electric vehicles remain higher than for petrol and diesel. Less than 2% of EV drivers want to return to petrol or diesel compared to 9 out of 10 who would not consider trading for a conventional car. Meanwhile the report shows 89% satisfaction for battery-electric vehicles and 83% for plug-in hybrid electric — both higher than 71% for petrol and diesel.

Says Melanie Shufflebotham, COO & Co-Founder of Zap-Map:

“Our survey has shown for several years now that once you go electric, you don’t go back. This year we’ve gone further to show that drivers who haven’t quite let their conventional car go yet still choose to drive their electric. Even for those long cross-country journeys where a charge stop is likely to be necessary.”