Romanians charging habits

Romanians results about users' preferences regarding electric vehicles.

An important Romanian online forum for promotion of electromobility - electromobilitate.com, has published the results of a survey about users' preferences for re-charging their electric vehicles. The questionnaire was addressed to electric car users and aimed at determining charging needs for both, daily use and longer journeys. After a year in which the number of both, electric cars and chargers doubled, the questionnaire was re-launched in order to make a comparison with 2020.

Charging at home

Charging overnight, at home or near the home remains the most convenient solution for those who have this possibility. While in Bucharest 57% of those who responded to the survey have the opportunity to re-charge their EVs at home or in a location close to home, in the rest of the country the percentage is 89%, as we can see in the image below:

 Results 2020

Results 2021

We can observe that the electric vehicle users with the possibility to re-charge the EVs at their homes have increased in Bucharest and surrounding areas, rising from 57% to 63%, while the situation in the rest of the country remained relatively the same, with the difference being only one percentage. This seems to be still an important factor in the decision to purchase an electric car, although the number of charging stations has increased considerably since last year.

Charging at work

And charging at work (free or for a fee) is also a major advantage in the use of electric vehicles and is even more important in cases where users are not able to charge at theirs home. After all, in pre-pandemic times, the car was standing for at least 8 hours in the workplace parking. As a comparison, in 2020 the results of the survey stated that 64% of the Bucharest interviewed people, were able to charge theirs EVs, at the office, as we can see below:

and, in 2021 the surprise was that for the Bucharest and the surroundings this category has diminished to a level of 44%. The situation in the rest of the country is similar to last year's, with 41% being able to charge at the office, as we can see in the picture below:

The online forum experts consider that entrepreneurs would have a great influence in purchasing electric cars and increasing adoption rates if they invested in charging stations for employees. Another conclusion that can be stated is that 16% of respondents do not benefit from charging either at home or in the office, being forced to rely only on public charging stations and the percentage increased from 12% last year.

EV users daily average journey

The survey aimed also to determine the daily average journey of the respondents and, the results of this year remained similar with the one from last year, with the average value being at 51 km/day and the median value of 30 km/day. This means that most people do not need the 400-500 km autonomy, which comes bundled with a large battery pack and a high mass (see VW ID.4 – over 2100 kg) that must be carried on the city roads daily. Based on the answers provided by the respondents, an average consumption per 100 km was calculated, the average being 16.4 kWh / 100km.

An interesting result is that 68% of those who responded to the survey travel less than 50 kilometres per day and, with only three exceptions, less than 100 km per day, thus justifying once again a careful look at the choice of vehicle type.

This survey aims to better understand the needs of each EV user and, in this way, potential users will be more attractive to choose this kind of means of transport and, furthermore, the developing of the sustainable mobility will be a normality.