Drivers want options for which vehicles they buy in the transition to low-carbon mobility in a new pan-European survey run by independent polling company Opinium and commissioned by the UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA) and FuelsEurope. With responses from 1,000 people in the UK and 10,000 in total across Europe, the survey reveals that consumers see a role for efficient internal combustion engines powered by cleaner fuels, alongside battery and hydrogen engines.
UKPIA Director-General Stephen Marcos Jones, said, “This survey shows that the public wants choice when they buy a new car and that low-carbon liquid fuels are seen as part of that choice. UKPIA’s Future Vision publication from July this year showed some of the pathways to delivering low-carbon liquids fuels that would make use of existing logistics and infrastructure to deliver vastly improved emissions performance and these survey results show that the consumer sees a role for such fuels too. Now we want to work with the Government to make these fuels a reality in the UK and be able to deliver their decarbonising potential at scale of these technologies – biofuels, synthetic fuels and hydrogen.”
The survey also highlighted that consumers will need time to adapt to alternative mobility solutions, with an overwhelming proportion of respondents being heavily reliant on their cars. Consumers support the development of electric cars, but for now the combination of price, range and infrastructure are factors which would prevent them from considering an electric car as their next vehicle purchase. While those barriers still remain, over two thirds of the respondents would opt for hybrid or internal combustion engines.
Launched in September 2019, the online survey reached 1,002 UK consumers and over 10,000 across 10 EU Member States (Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK). All surveys were run in national languages.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA) represents eight oil refining and marketing companies that operate the six major oil refineries in the UK and source over 85% of the transport fuels used. UKPIA members also own around 1,250 of the UK's 8,476 filling stations in the UK.
- Further details on the role the downstream oil sector can play in the transition to a low-carbon are available in our ‘Future Vision’ document, accessible at https://www.fuelsindustryuk.org/media-centre/publications/
- UK Results of the Survey can be downloaded: https://www.fuelsindustryuk.org/media-centre/publications/