The Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (CABLED) study examined driver behaviour for 12 months, with participants split between 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs and 20 smart fortwo EVs. It is hoped that the findings could help inform future infrastructure development in the UK.

The results showed most journeys (77%) lasted under 20 minutes, using 12% of full charge, and only 2% covered more than half of the vehicle’s range. As such, drivers would easily be able to cover the return journey without recharging, and many covered increased ranges over time, showing an increase in confidence.

But participants were also shown to recharge regularly, with most plugging their vehicles in when the battery was between 81% and 87% charged. On average, vehicles were plugged in for between two and three hours, costing 60-80p depending on the participant’s electricity tariff, roughly equivalent to the cost of a load in a washer dryer.

Most charging happened after commuting, with spikes before and after work hours, with another peak at 11pm showing participants were using timers to take advantage of off-peak tariffs.

Mitsubishi Motors UK managing director, Lance Bradley, said: ‘It's very encouraging to see this statistical evidence from the CABLED trial. It clearly backs up our own experience and studies in Japan that people adapt very quickly to driving a pure- EV, such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

‘To know that people complete up to five normal journeys per charge, and at such a low cost, underlines the fact that EVs are here to stay and can find mass-market appeal.’