More than eight in 10 (81%) 14 year olds believe the first car they buy will be electric, a survey has found.
Researchers polled 800 teenagers aged 14-17 and found that the popularity of greener-fuelled cars increased as the interviewees became younger.
56% of the young people polled associated electric cars with lower CO2 emissions, 48% with cleaner air, and 34% believed that electric cars were ‘the types of cars that everyone will be driving one day’.
Some 88% of the young people surveyed felt that more motorists – regardless of their age – should be driving an electric car.
Encouragingly, the youngsters were also aware of the other benefits of electric motoring, and over half pointed out the cheap running costs as a reason to buy one. Keeping up with contemporary technology was also among the top reasons given to buy one.
The study was commissioned by Go Ultra Low, a government and industry-backed campaign to increase sales of ultra-low emissions vehicles,
Poppy Welch, head of Go Ultra Low, said: “It’s really encouraging to see how popular electric cars have become among British teenagers – as the next generation of first car buyers.
“Our research shows that younger consumers are more drawn towards environmentally friendly purchases, including when planning which car they’ll drive when they get their licence.”
Three young learner drivers who hadn’t been behind the wheel of an electric car before were asked to try it out, compared to the conventionally-fuelled cars they had been learning on. Check out the video below to see how they got on.
