RES0001 Research Report: Electric Vehicle Popularity in the UK

This report examines the increasing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK, considering various factors such as government policies, consumer attitudes, and market trends. It begins with an introduction to research skills and academic research, followed by a description of the literature and data related to EVs, including government strategies like the Road to Zero Strategy and the benefits of EVs. The report details the process used to select literature, focusing on secondary data from reliable sources, and highlights barriers to EV adoption. It summarizes the literature, discussing the pros and cons of EVs, the role of government support, and the influence of auto-makers. The report assesses the relevance and reliability of the sources and concludes with a reflection on the insights gained from the research, emphasizing the complex interplay of factors affecting EV adoption in the UK. The report also includes a table of contents, references and reflects on the research process.

Research Skills and Using
Information
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Description of the literature and data.....................................................................................3
Process used to select the literature and data .........................................................................4
Summary of the literature and data........................................................................................5
Relevance and reliability of the literature sources.................................................................6
Reflection...............................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Research skills is the ability to search for, extract, organise, evaluate, and locate and use
of present information which is relevant to the particular topic. This includes investigation,
intensive search and critical analysis usually in response to the particular research question and
hypothesis. Then there is Academic research which is a specific type of research that is the
process of methodical and detailed investigation into the area of study. Research skills are the
ability to identify the solutions to the problems and answer to the question. It includes gathering
of information, reviewing that information and then analysing and interpretation the information
for bringing solution to the problems or issues. The topic which is taken in this report is 'The
popularity of electric vehicles in the UK'. There are various literatures related to the topic. These
electric vehicles are more friendly because they provide eco-friendly and pocket friendly
benefits. They are eco-friendly because they reduce emissions in comparison to the engine
vehicles and they are pocket friendly because they can charge anywhere and save money spend
on gas station (Morgan, 2020). This report covers description of the literature and data and
process used to select the literature and data.
MAIN BODY
Description of the literature and data
According to the views of David Hirst, 2020, Electric vehicles are also called as the Ultra
low emission vehicles. They run with electricity for sometime or all day. Electric vehicles are
described as the electric motors to drive their wheels. They needs researchable batteries and
power of large volume. There are various categories of electric vehicles which includes All
electric vehicles, in which there is only battery is power source. Most of the non- luxury models
today have quoted range which is between 80- 120 miles these vehicles make use of auxiliary
equipments such as air conditioner or heater. Another electric vehicles is Plug in hybrids , they
can switch between electricity an fossil fuels. There power range is between 10-40 miles. They
are considered as the lower battery vehicles. Another is Fuel cell vehicles which generate their
own electricity on- board. They are similar to the petrol car. Modern days government of UK is
encouraging to take the use of electric vehicles because they can contribute to the wider range of
transport agency. The importance of using electric vehicles is that they improve air quality,
reduction in noise pollution as compared to engine vehicles and support to reduce the use of
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carbon emissions. In recent 2018, it is founded from the report of European Environment agency
is that electric vehicles offer clear benefits for local air quality largely due to the zero exhaust
emissions at street level. The UK government is highlighting the growth rate rather than absolute
numbers on the roads. It has been notices that there is the highest increased in electrical vehicles
in UK. As in 2010, a number of electrical vehicles which was under 9000 and at the end of 2020,
they increased to 317,000 electrical vehicles in the country. There is the increase of 3,427%
increased in electrical vehicle in the country. Currently there are 93% cars of all licensed ULEV
vehicles in the country. And rest others are vans, scooters and buses etc. Government of UK has
encouraged to support measures to make use of electrical vehicles in the country. They made
certain targets, policies and incentives to individuals to buy new vehicles. Government has
introduced Road to Zero Strategy in 2018. this strategy outline how it will support the use of
electrical vehicles and reduce the use of conventional vehicles. This strategy is considered as
long term in scope and ambition. Also it considered the drivers of change and opportunities and
risk.
Process used to select the literature and data
Literature review plays a crucial role in researching methods. As it is essential for
identifying what is written on the topic or subject. It determines the specific data and interpret
the results in the market. Literature review identifies more topics or questions which are required
for investigation. The method which is used in this report to conduct a research is secondary
method because in this literature review is taken into consideration. Secondary data is the data
which is collected by someone and not by the primary user. The common sources which are used
in the secondary data includes censuses, graphs, organisational records, government departments
and data that is usually collected for the research. The sources which are used in the research are
taken from the government website of UK. They are accurate and reliable. In this report there
are five intermediate objectives which are need to met along with the journey to EV adoption.
Each objectives are corresponds to barriers (Eftekhari, 2019). These are awareness and
knowledge, financial factors, charging infrastructure, vehicle attributes, consumers attitude.
These barriers are to be solved before the adoption of electrical vehicles. It is found that cost of
electrical vehicle and availability of charging infrastructure are the main barriers which can
affect the use of Evs. It is important to take improve those perceptions about the barriers rather
than investing funds into the improvement of reality. There are some policy ideas that can
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address the objectives. These are personalise information as in this persons are motivated to
make use of electrical vehicles. As they can use this on daily purpose and can run for a long way.
Then next is make comparisons between EVs and ICEVs easy. It is important to make
comparison between them as electrical vehicles are more suitable than engine vehicles in terms
of durability, cost, running cost and performance etc. (Ajanovic, 2015) Then next is
identification of most effective messengers and touchpoints. As message is most important for
conveying a message to the customers. By expanding the existing school engagement projects is
a quick method to raise awareness. According to this literature review, it is most important to
make understand customers that they should drive electrical vehicles rather than engine vehicles
because they are less affordable then engine vehicles.
Summary of the literature and data
Electric vehicles are powered through electric motors and require electricity or solar
panels to provide them power. They need to be charged periodically. They run on comparatively
cleaner source of fuel and with government aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emission, it is
supported extensively. Having the tag of eco-friendly and pocket friendly attached to it, electric
vehicles are gaining lots of popularity among both customers and manufacturers. Gibson (2020),
asserts that there are both pros and cons of owning an electric vehicle. For example, they produce
lesser environmental pollution, have lower running costs and vehicle noise, good torque as well
as benefits provided by government while buying these vehicles like tax benefits, subsidies and
incentives, etc. In addition to benefits, they have some cons like they have higher purchase cost,
charging points are not available everywhere as well as charging time is longer in comparison to
diesel-petrol vehicles.
In addition to it, Hirst (2020) points out that these vehicles are capable of playing to
perform a critical role in Road to Zero Strategy of government. Government is keen to provide
subsidy and grants so that infrastructure of these industries can be developed. However, these
batteries contained in these vehicles contains lithium and cobalt which is harmful to environment
at all stages of its life right from mining and processing to disposing. Also, they are available in
limited quantity on earth surface and one day there will be shortage of it for soon to be
exhausted. Therefore, till the time, its alternative is not discovered, it is possible source of
putting restriction over the growth of the electric vehicles segment in the auto-mobile industry.
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All these measures are aimed at increasing popularity but it has been observed that
popularity of these vehicle segment is not being reflected in sales figures which shows that there
are some measures that are creating restrictions in the minds of customers as to whether they
should purchase these products or not. To determine these barriers, Reiner and others (2020)
commissioned a research on the drivers of light-duty vehicles like passenger cars. They
determined that major barriers were affordability issues, lack of trust in people regarding
charging infrastructure, facilities in vehicle as well as attitude of people towards change and lack
of awareness among people regarding positive factors of these vehicles.
Supported by government and motivated by the growing popularity of these vehicles
among the customers all over UK, various auto-makers have started designing and developing
electric vehicles. With Tesla in lead and Volkswagen following it, soon there will be lots of auto-
makers which will venture into electric vehicles segment at a large scale looking at exploiting the
growth opportunities in this segment in future. However, as per Janiaud (2020), though the
numbers of sales of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles have increased from previous years,
they are still a minor percentage while being compared from the overall sales figure, which
shows that popularity of these vehicles among the customers is largely driven by the grant and
others benefits provided by the government. Therefore, it is suggested that to achieve the 2035
goal of putting an end to sale of new combustion engine powered cars and vans, government
support is vital and must be extended to all 'ultra low emission vehicles' so as to ensure that no
negative consequence is derived from no support of government before the market is ready for it
or in pre-mature stage.
Relevance and reliability of the literature sources
All the sources used above have been taken from verified secondary sources like
published government data and therefore, can be taken as highly reliable. They have been taken,
as they are not only reliable sources but also relevant sources to develop an understanding of the
topic – popularity of electric vehicles in UK. Data mentioned above have been presented in a
structured manner so that reader of the report can develop an understanding as to why the topic is
important and how it has developed in UK. It has been given structure that first an understanding
of the background has been developed that how and why government is promoting electric
vehicles industry i.e. in pursuance of its ambitious missions like Road to Zero and net
greenhouse gas emission target by 2050. Further, an understanding has been developed regarding
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the pros and cons of owning electric vehicles to the customers and how customer demand and
government support is influencing more and more auto-makers to take electric way. Also,
discussed are barriers that restrict consumers from purchasing electric vehicles. Literature
sources have been taken in a way to present all aspects that contribute to increase and decrease in
popularity of electric vehicles in UK.
Reflection
While going through different literature sources for this report, I developed a tacit
understanding of different aspects that define and design spectrum of popularity of electric
vehicles in UK. I got to develop a better understanding of the government policies related to
bringing emission of greenhouse gases to net of zero by 2050 and how it treats its Road to Zero
strategy as an important development in it. I learned about various benefits of using cleaner
source of fuel on both environment and pocket like it produces reduced emission in comparison
to conventional engine vehicles and also save fuel cost for individual pockets as well as country
exchequer. I also got to know other benefits of driving electric vehicles better like buying
incentives, efficient torque, lower noise, etc. Along side benefits I also developed an
understanding of the underlying issues in consumer buying behaviour as well as in owning
electric vehicles like lithium batteries used in it are not good for environment at both mining and
disposal stage, affordability issues, unavailability of charging points, longer charging time, etc. I
got to know that with government promoting it and customers popularising it, manufacturers are
rushing towards this segment with Tesla being in lead, followed by Volkswagen.
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References
Books and Journal
Ajanovic, A., 2015. The future of electric vehicles: prospects and impediments. Wiley
Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment. 4(6). pp.521-536.
Eftekhari, A., 2019. Lithium batteries for electric vehicles: from economy to research strategy.
Morgan, J., 2020. Electric vehicles: the future we made and the problem of unmaking
it. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 44(4). pp.953-977.
Muneer, T., Kolhe, M. and Doyle, A., 2017. Electric vehicles: prospects and challenges.
Elsevier.
Online
Gibson Dean. 2020. Could you live with an electric car? The pros and cons of owning an EV
today. [Online]. Available through:<https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/electric-
cars/100285/could-you-live-with-an-electric-car-the-pros-and-cons-of-owning-an-
ev>(Accessed on 13/01/2021)
Hirst David. 2020. Electric vehicles and infrastructure [Online]. Available
through:<file:///home/user/Downloads/CBP-7480.pdf> (Accessed on 13/01/2021)
Janiaud Alex. 2020 Is the UK really ready for electric cars?. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/company-news/2020/02/12/is-the-uk-
ready-for-electric-cars/> (Accessed on 13/01/2021)
Reiner Carolin and et.al. 2020. Driving and accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in the
UK. [Online]. Available through:
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/914111/driving-and-accelerating-the-adoption-of-electric-vehicles-
in-the-uk.pdf>
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