Dirty electricity. Is it holding back electric car sales?

It is clear that one of the major drivers to buy an electric car is that it is green and owners are doing their bit to save the planet. However, have we thought about what powers our green electric cars, where does the electricity come from?

New research from Canada and the US has shown that over a third of prospective buyers who normally buy conventional cars valued a package of an electric car with green electricity. John Axsen from Canada’s Simon Fraser University and Kenneth Kurani of the University of California surveyed three different types of car buyers:

• conventional new vehicle buyers
• hybrid vehicle buyers
• PEV (pure electric vehicle) buyers

The survey revealed a potential 23% increase in demand for PEVs if buyers of conventional cars were offered a green electricity programme with the electric vehicle, which is an amazing amount and could transform current sales trends. John Axsen told the Environmental Research Web. “We were expecting a small increase in interest, but did not expect a 23% increase in demand from conventional car buyers.” He went on to add, “We have shown that offering a combination of a PEV with a green-energy package can increase demand for PEVs”. “Some car manufacturers, specifically BMW, are already offering this combination of products and we can envisage that other manufacturers may do the same as a way of stimulating demand.”