POTENTIAL electric vehicle (EV) owners should not be put off by concerns over ‘range anxiety’, according to the president of the motorists’ organisation the AA.

Addressing a session on ‘How cool could a zero-carbon future be?’ at the Fully Charged Live Show in Farnborough, Hampshire, on Saturday (April 30), Automobile Association president Edmund King, who drove his first EV more than 20 years ago, attempted to show just how hard it is to run of charge and explained the ‘reasons to be cheerful’ generated by driving an EV.

He said the proportion of EVs rescued by the AA for being ‘out of charge’ had halved in the last two years from 8% of breakdowns to under 4% of breakdowns today.

However, he explained that half of that 4% had not actually run out but the AA has been called out as the EV is low on charge. In Norway, which has a much higher concentration of EVs than the UK, the percentage of ‘out of charges’ is just 1%.

He said the top one third of breakdowns for EVs were for exactly the same faults as with petrol or diesel cars – 12v battery problems and tyres. Other EV faults were quite different and covered things such as charging equipment, warning lights, battery monitoring systems or key transponders, he added.

Edmund King told his audience: “In 20 years of driving EVs I have only run out of charge once. My first EV was a Ford Think! Car with a 37-mile range and I once tried to drive from central London to St Albans on a dark, rainy night and didn’t quite make it.

“Yes, there have been occasions when I have been low on charge or come across chargers out-of-order, but it is hard to run out.

“Most EVs will flash up an orange ‘check your charging’ warning when around 20%, others will change your sat nav route to take in chargers or put the car into ‘range’ mode.

“If the worst comes to the worst, the AA can always help you out. Drivers shouldn’t get hung up about range anxiety because it doesn’t match reality.”

He added: “Of course, improvements can and are being made to the charging infrastructure but a little planning can take you a very long way. We are also now seeing EVs with much longer ranges. I’m currently testing a luxury Mercedes EV with a potential range of 453 miles and most new EVs can do at least 250 miles.”

Mr King also alluded to ‘reasons to be cheerful’ about owning or driving an EV such as:

-        Car warms itself and de-ices on a cold morning.

-        Low tariff overnight has car charged and ready at 7am.

-        Electricity is still a fraction of cost of petrol or diesel.

-        EVs give great performance without burning fossil fuels.

-        The sound of silence helps you think.

-        You don’t have to pay car tax, fuel duty or congestion charge.

-        You can have a green strip on the number plate.

-        You often can get preferential parking.

-        There are more rapid chargers.

-        Owners of EVs have lower servicing costs.

-        There are brilliant state of the art cars to drive.

Edmund King concluded with the words: “The automobile world is changing rapidly, and we will see more change in the next 10 years than we have in the last 50. Electrification is going mainstream and potential EV owners shouldn’t be put off by myths about range.

“Once you have tried an EV it is hard to go back.”

He added: “Pretty soon, we will think of older diesel cars in the same way we now think about smoking on the top deck of a bus. The AA can help from learning to drive in an EV, insuring, leasing, selling, servicing, and fixing your EV. We are here to give power to electric drivers.”

However, for now readers in Cornwall may remain sceptical about these claims given the relatively sparse number of charging points currently available in the South West – so ‘range anxiety’ may persist.