People who have worked as electricians for a long time are able to tell the difference between ripples and waves in the technology sector, as they will often be installing new technology for early adopters and seeing the orders and requests grow to meet demand.
Over the past few years, electricians have seen a lot of requests for quotes on EV charging stations, which is an essential albeit not strictly critical piece of electrical equipment, which demonstrates not only an interest but a commitment by homeowners to switching to electric cars.
However, the mass adoption of EVs, despite a looming ban on petrol and diesel cars being brought forward five years from 2035 to 2030, has always been seen as something that was going to happen in the future.
However, has the future finally arrived? Will we see not only a sizable minority of cars be either plug-in hybrids or battery-electric powered but this become the norm sooner than we expect?
Here are a few factors that may explain why people are starting to take the plunge today rather than tomorrow.
Prices Are Finally Low Enough
Since the launch of the Nissan Leaf and something that has continued throughout the last decade is that whilst EVs have the capability of replacing a petrol car, the biggest stumbling block has been the upfront cost.
Electric cars use a lot of new technology that makes them more expensive to manufacture, meaning that sales were limited to early adopters. This was the case up until 2020, as whilst prices did drop, it was still extremely expensive to buy or finance an EV compared to a used diesel car.
This is no longer the case, as electric cars such as the Dacia Spring are priced below £15,000 new, roughly the same as its petrol equivalent in the Dacia Sandero, and if someone has a budget of £25,000 there are a surprisingly decent number of cars to choose from.
Price parity with petrol cars could arrive as soon as next year (2025) according to research by Bloomberg. On the used car market, some EVs are cheaper than equivalent petrol models suggesting that this is already the case.
Battery Ranges And Lifespans Are Comparable
One of the biggest concerns regarding EVs was battery depreciation; rechargeable electric batteries will lose some of their capacity over time, and the fear was that eventually, the range would reach a point where the car is effectively unusable.
This has turned out not to be the case. EV batteries are designed to last for about 130,000 miles, roughly considered to be the lifespan of the vehicle, with explicit guarantees that the car will retain 70 per cent of its charge for 100,000 or eight years.
A test of seven-year-old EVs by Which found that they had lost only five per cent of their original capacity.
Degradation is inevitable using current battery technology due to the nature of electricity storage, but it is not anywhere close to the degree feared and newer technologies will only improve battery life.