Fuels Europe
EU Consumer Survey on future mobility options
European citizens want to have the choice of the technology when buying a new car
Pan-European consumer survey shows clear support for mix of low-carbon mobility options
EU citizens demand more options in the transition to carbon neutral mobility, a new survey shows. With responses from 10 000 citizens across Europe, the survey reveals that a range of clean vehicle technologies will be needed to meet consumer needs until 2050, including efficient internal combustion engines powered by cleaner fuels such as biofuels, hydrogen or synthetic fuels.
In the survey, run by independent polling company Opinium and commissioned by FuelsEurope, EU consumers ask their governments to do more to support the development of multiple low-carbon solutions, identifying the lack of incentives as the main obstacle to the uptake of low-carbon liquid fuels.
“This survey shows a clear appetite for affordable, green mobility technologies that do not require an overhaul of the EU’s vehicle fleet,” said John Cooper, Director General of FuelsEurope. “Above all, it shows that consumers want choices. With our Vision 2050 we have shown that these options are developing and will make a genuine contribution to lowering the EU’s transport emissions, conditional to having the right policy framework to facilitate substantial investments for those technologies.”
The survey also highlighted that consumers will need time to adapt to new mobility solutions, with an overwhelming proportion of respondents being heavily reliant on their cars. Although consumers largely support the development of electric cars, the combination of price, range and infrastructure are as the main factors which would prevent them from considering an electric car their next vehicle purchase. Conversely two thirds of the respondents would opt for hybrid or internal combustion engines.
Launched in September 2019, the online survey reached 10 000 consumers across 10 EU Member States (Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK). All surveys were run in national languages.