Broker News

A poll run by Markerstudy on LinkedIn found 78% of nearly 200 people voted ‘definitely not’ when asked if the UK has the infrastructure to support electric vehicles.

The survey was held before the company’s ‘Emerging Vehicle Technology’ webinar on 12 December. Led by Russ Harrison, Divisional Head of Motor at Markerstudy, the webinar explored the barriers to EV take up, which included lack of fast charging points, range and cost.

During the webinar, Russ explained: “Charging infrastructure is a key concern. The number of cars per (charging) device has increased from around 11 people per device to 16, between 2019-2020. This means the UK now ranks as one of the worst among the 10 global electric vehicle markets.”

“The situation is slightly improving, however, in the first nine months of the year, 4,109 new charging points were installed and 1,100 in the last month alone. The Government also announced charging points would be required in new homes, supermarkets and workplaces, which is expected to see up to 145,000 extra charging points installed a year.”

“In underwriting terms, new risks to consider are plentiful. The experience of driving an electric vehicle can be very different to petrol and diesel, as the acceleration is much faster, commonly catching out drivers. Cables are also a key factor. We now need to consider their theft and vandalism or injuries due to them being tripped over. Will ‘trip for cash’ be the next big thing? Does the range impact on people’s speed as they look to manage speed to preserve battery range?”

“For claims, key to key time on petrol and diesel (car claims) is very low as processes are well established. Due to the high voltage nature of electric vehicle batteries they need to be quarantined for up to two weeks, which is longer than a typical repair cycle for petrol and diesel vehicles.”

The discussion also focussed on ‘range anxiety’, cost and service. To view the full webinar, visit Markerstudy’s Twitter page, @Markerstudyins.