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Electric cars need to be charged and compared to petrol pumps, public chargers are fewer in number and require a longer stop to do their job.
But concerns about electric cars running out of charge and breaking down have been exaggerated, according to data from the AA.
The latest statistics show that only 1.85 percent of all calls in 2024 for the AA were related to discharged electric car batteries, down from 2.26 percent of calls last year.
While 2 in 5 drivers worry about the risk of breaking down for free, data suggests this affects a very small number of drivers.
The AA deals with about 8,000 breakdowns a day, he said. When they get called about a dead battery, often the real reason is that the car won't charge.
Most breakdowns are due to failures common to both gasoline and electric cars, according to the organization, such as problems with the tires or the 12-volt battery.
Outages due to empty batteries have been decreasing since 2015, when 8 percent of calls were due to dead cells.
Since then, more chargers and cars with better range have helped drivers avoid low-charge breakdowns.
The AA said 1 per cent of calls are for petrol and diesel-powered combustion cars running out of fuel, and that eventually, low-charge insensitives will fall to this figure.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “The latest AA figures show that less than 2 per cent of electric vehicle breakdowns are due to lack of charging, suggesting range anxiety should be a thing of the past. .
“Many of the breakdowns due to lack of charge are not due to zero charge, but are due to low charge or technical problems, such as the covers of the vehicle's charging points getting stuck.
“Over the last eight years, the proportion of electric vehicles running out of charge has fallen by approximately 80%, which is due to an increase in the number of chargers and their reliability; better charge posting support for customers; improved range in newer electric vehicles; and better education and information for drivers.”
The UK now has almost a million electric car chargers, helping to keep pace with drivers' needs, although the car industry remains interested in launching more and faster models.
However, most chargers were installed in homes and only 65,000 were open to the public, according to Zapmap.
Still, broken chargers and high fees are often seen as a frustration for electric car drivers.
Private charging companies can charge whatever they want and have to add VAT to their prices, which can lead to big differences in the price per kilowatt hour.
Most electric car buyers are companies that operate fleets or homeowners with off-street parking who can charge their cars themselves at low cost.
For mass acceptance of cars, cheap public charging will be necessary, the car industry has warned.
