Long journeys are becoming the norm among electric vehicle drivers, putting to bed concerns over the range of EVs.

The majority (53%) of survey respondents said they have driven more than 200 miles in their EV in a single trip

A new survey of EV drivers across the country, carried out by Zap-Map, found the majority (53%) said they have driven more than 200 miles in their EV in a single trip.

Furthermore, almost a quarter of respondents (24%) said they have driven more than 300 miles in one trip – with over 7% doing the long haul and driving more than 500 miles in a single journey. For around 31%, between 101 and 200 miles was their longest trip in an EV, while for 15% it was less than 100 miles.

The new poll also shows high satisfaction among EV drivers; more than 90% are extremely happy with their car and wouldn’t want to replace it with a petrol or diesel. Thanks to the driving experience, low running costs and low emissions of EVs, less than 1% wanted a return to a petrol or diesel vehicle; echoing the findings of the 2020 poll.

Many of the respondents were first-time EV drivers. More than 48% of respondents said that their current vehicle was their first EV, with 28% making the purchase in 2020.

In parallel, driver satisfaction was notably higher for both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, with EV drivers reporting a satisfaction score of 91 out of 100 (battery-electric 92, plug-in hybrid 84), compared with only 74 for petrol or diesel vehicle ownership.

The poll – which was carried out in November 2021 and had more than 3,000 responses from Zap-Map’s community of EV drivers – is part of the company’s annual EV charging survey.

Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder & COO at Zap-Map, said: “The findings of this latest poll certainly give prospective EV buyers something to think about in 2022. For the second year running we’ve seen that those who make the switch to electric simply don’t look back. It’s also clear from the distances EV drivers have travelled that concerns over range and other historical challenges of owning and running an EV are increasingly a thing of the past.”