Good news for car industry as study finds EV drivers feel more confident

The CABLED project is the largest of eight public trials taking place in the UK under the Technology Strategy Board’s £25 million Ultra Low Carbon Demonstrator programme. The data, analysed by Aston University combines and compares the behaviour patterns of 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicles) drivers over two consecutive quarters.

"Finding that drivers quickly adapt to electric vehicles is good news for the car industry, which is currently investing heavily in the development of low carbon vehicle technologies," said Lance Bradley, Mitsubishi Motors’ managing director.

The CABLED trial
Each vehicle in the CABLED trial is fitted with GPS and data logger, designed and installed by RDM Automotive. These record the usage, location and charging habits of each vehicle so that researchers can analyse information such as the frequency of individual trips and the amount of energy used per journey.

"Collecting real-world usage of electric vehicles (EV) through our satellite mapping and analysis has been essential in understanding actual demands and requirements of EV vehicles for consumers," said Brian Price, Aston University. "The journey data gathered is already showing that the current generation of ultra-low carbon vehicles are cheap to run as well as being comparable to petrol and diesel vehicles for speed, ease of use and daily journey distance."

Data findings
Data collected from the trial shows that as EV drivers become more comfortable with their vehicles, they begin traveling more miles and overcoming range anxiety, which is the concern about battery life when driving long distances.

"The low costs of 'refueling’ in relatively short periods of time reinforce this," said Neil Butcher, project leader from coordinating partner Arup. "While there are technical challenges ahead – extending vehicle range and preparing for increased demands on the National Grid – our results show that even current vehicles are more than capable of meeting users’ day-to-day needs."

The CABLED results show that the average charge time per charge is just less than two hours, costing between 40 pence and £1 depending on the tariff, and providing sufficient charge for 20-40 miles of travel.

"The findings indicate that drivers habitually charge their vehicles, whether the battery is half full or nearly empty, in much the same way as a laptop or mobile phone, which will influence the next generation of battery technology that is incorporated into these vehicles," said Bradley.

Impact of data
In addition to helping the car industry develop better EVs, this data will also assist in the development of energy infrastructure and smart grid technology so that it is in line with driver needs.

"The most popular time to charge vehicles is overnight but, since most journeys are relatively short, five average length journeys can be completed on one charge," said Charles Bradshaw-Smith, head of group E-Mobility R&D at E.ON.

"This is evidence to support the need for intelligent charging technology that will allow EVs to interact with the distribution grid – an area which E.ON is researching into. The goal is to allow drivers to take advantage of low cost energy whilst enabling EVs to draw and feed in to the grid in order to smooth demand peaks and troughs."