One of the key findings of our recent Electric Is Now report on electric vehicle adoption was that the UK customers are not just overwhelmingly anxious about range, they’re also massively uninformed.
In fact, our research suggests that British drivers are in desperate need of further confidence about how far EVs can take them: when asked about what they considered the main barriers stopping them from making the switch from fuel to electricity, 25% of the respondents said their main doubt remained a potential ‘lack of range’, compounded by 36% indicating they most worry about ‘the hassle of having to research charging station’ to extend said range once out and about. These fears, which appear consistent across all age groups, were further made explicit by the interviewees stating that 75% of their desired improvements for current EV vehicles are related to the limited range capabilities currently offered.
These insecurities, leaving aside model-specific range potential, are, however, often rooted in the aforementioned ignorance: the average respondent guessed that the UK had around 4,000 charging points available at the time, while the real number is over 25,000. This and many other similar misconceptions are often the symptoms and causes of the dreaded range anxiety.
So, what can automotive brands do to ‘cure’ it? Clearly, they need to take responsibility for the education of potential customers and ensure to get the correct information in front of them, reaching them in the spaces they already occupy when looking to expand knowledge on the subject. After all, 49% of the survey participants believe that ‘manufacturers don’t provide enough information on their electric vehicle offering’.
But not just any kind of communication will do. Historically, automotive marketing has relied on feelings as a main selling point, trying to associate cars with a specific mood or social status and, by extension, establish aspirational brand positioning. Our research, however, suggests that this is not enough for the drastic paradigm shift that car buyers of today are experiencing: 44% of respondents unequivocally stated they would rather automotive marketers delivered more information over entertainment, against a mere 16% looking to be amused by car adverts, with the rest looking for a healthy mix between the two.
Energy suppliers, have already successfully tried their hand at this. Shell kicked the ball out of the park by making the most of social media-format video content with a snappy myth-busting spot which quickly but clearly dispels the idea that electric vehicles take a long time to charge by proving that they charge significantly quicker than a standard smartphone.
Manufacturers are getting there, but slowly. Audi’s ‘Range Tranquillity’ video, while admittedly part of a broader, less dry campaign, overloads its audience with a slew of data and flashy infographics delivered with the inflection of a red eye in-flight safety demonstration, while still managing to inadvertently fuel electric prejudices. If a ‘range map’ on the dashboard isn’t the antithesis of the ‘open road’ feeling EV-skeptical customers fear losing, we don’t know what is.
Kia, on the other hand, have delivered a more captivating offering with their headphone-busting ad for the Niro EV. The film, which highlights the reliability of the Niro’s battery when compared with the market average, is admittedly amusing and is sure to leave a mark in the viewers’ memory, as well as their eardrums. It is, however, terribly misguided and potentially counterproductive: do electric automotive manufacturers really want to put in their customers mind the idea that, as nondescript as the vehicle in the video might be, an electric car could just run out of battery and roll backwards down a mountain once that happens? Probably not.
It’s not all bad out there, however, as Renault France just released a series of ads (yet to be fully translated to English) called ‘Stay As You Are’, made up of three parts focusing respectively on the issues of autonomy, habitability and recharging access. The core message of the campaign is simple but powerful: how is your life going to change when you switch to an EV? It won’t. You’ll stay the same, as electric ownership won’t limit your habits or add an extra burden to your already full and busy life, while still providing 5 comfy seats and up to 395km of autonomy. You don’t even have to figure out how long the charge will take: it will be just the time of eating a sandwich. There’s not a lot of meat on the fire, but it’s cooked to perfection, leaving the audience convinced that buying an electric vehicle will be just as comfortable as any fuel powered vehicle they’ve owned.
Which is, after all, the goal of anyone looking for the secret to range confidence.