With Glasgow hosting the global summit on climate change, Cop26, there have been plenty of headlines on the environment, and this week a major new report revealed some interesting details on the public's attitude to electric vehicles.

The report, by the Royal Society of Chemistry found that of the 3,404 UK drivers, almost two thirds (63%) didn’t trust the government to deliver the necessary infrastructure to enable a switch to electric driving. The same research found that one in three (34 per cent) said they had no intention of buying an EV within the next ten years, a potential spanner in the works for the government’s clean air strategy.

The challenge for Boris Johnson’s strategy team appears to be in educating the public on the capabilities of an electric vehicle, particularly as some 46 per cent said they know enough about EVs to make an informed decision.

“After we heard that the Government is delaying its Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, this research shows there is much work to be done to fully convince the public at large of the merits of switching to fully electric vehicles – but more pressingly, that efforts to deliver critical infrastructure for both charging and recycling EV batteries should be a government priority,” said Professor Tom Welton, Royal Society of Chemistry President.

“We must improve the flow of information around the government's plans for transitioning to an entirely electric vehicle network, the ecosystem to support this and electric vehicles capabilities, all of which can help drivers to make informed purchasing decisions.”

Some of the key reasons that the British public don’t have confidence in purchasing an EV are surprisingly linked to environmental concerns, with worries about a negative impact on the environment for 40 per cent of those polled.

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