EVs? The results are in!

We’ve made progress towards electrification for sure! But we’re not over the line yet. Why? Because it seems we’ve started to stall and there’s plenty of work to get back on track.

This couldn’t come at a worse time for the industry, as the Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate kicks in on the 3rd of January. That means 22% of all new cars sold in 2024 MUST be electric. And if manufacturers don’t hit those numbers, there are VERY significant fines to pay.

It means at least 429,220 new EVs MUST be sold in 2024, increasing numbers on UK roads by 40%. Most sales so far have been to businesses so a truly significant shift is now required to persuade average Joe or Jane to embrace EV ownership.

Looking at our survey 31% are convinced they would NEVER buy an EV which is disappointing! 30% are already committed to buying an EV as their next car, great news… BUT that leaves a massive 40% needing to be convinced that electric is the way to go.

With over over 70 votes, I believe our pole does reflect how people are feeling. If we look at Auto Trader UK’s excellent Monthly Market Intelligence for November it shows a similar pattern.

The new car market is back in-line with 2019’s figures but pure EV sales lag 5,000 units behind 2022, the first annual decline since April 2020. According to our pole, a significant 70% still need convincing on EVs. As last week’s blog do we need to retire the engineers and scientists and roll out the marketeers, to change the narrative?

A quick Google confronts enthusiastic prospects with a bewildering range of terms; EV, BEV, PHEV, HEV, PiV, FCEV, Slow, Fast, Rapid, Ultra-Rapid Charging, 2.3kW, 3kW, 7kW - 25kW, 43kW, 350kW, Regenerative Braking, Lithium-Ion, RPH, NEDC, WLTP, V2G, Solid State, BMS, kWh, PID, EVSE, ZEV, ULEZ, CAZ, Coulomb, CHAdeMO, CCS1 & CCS2.

Does this trigger a warm fuzzy emotional response or a feeling of desire? I didn’t think so. That then brings me to where marketeers need to step in.

Heard of James Watt? He invented the Steam Engine.

Fantastic engineer, but even better marketeer.

He knew customers wouldn’t have a clue what engineers were talking about when describing this new concept.

But he knew they’d be interested in how many ‘expensive to run’ horses could be replaced by a steam engine. So, he invented the concept of ‘horsepower’.

Customers knew with one 20hp engine, they could replace 60 horses (20 horses x 8 hr shifts). Changing a complex narrative into a simple one.

Without his #marketing acumen the switch to steam would have taken a whole lot longer. Do we need to be more like James?

If you work within automotive, be it a retailer or at brand level, we’d love to understand your view and talk to you about the future of auto retailing. Why not schedule a FREE 30-minute assessment today here? It will be well worth your time.

Or alternatively read more about Local Marketing on our blog page "Local Thinking': https://www.weareacuity.com/local-thinking-our-blog

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