‘Generation E’ to drive the switch to EVs

  Posted by: electime      18th June 2025

Drivers in their 30s look set to spearhead the switch to Electric Vehicles in the UK, according to a CTEK survey of more than 1,000 UK drivers by Find Out Now which reveals 30 to 39-year-olds are the generation most primed to buy EV and ditch petrol and diesel cars first.

The survey found almost two thirds (61 per cent) of drivers currently in their 30s foresee they will be driving an EV in the year 2035, when they will be in their 40s. Only one in six (17 per cent) thirty-somethings think they will still be driving an ICE (purely petrol or diesel) vehicle in a decade’s time. The rest don’t know.

Even by 2030, a majority (59 per cent) of what CTEK is terming ‘Generation E’ will be driving a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) or a hybrid. Just over a fifth (21 per cent) think they will be driving an ICE car.

Including all age groups of drivers, 2030 could see 45 per cent driving an EV, outnumbering the 34 per cent who imagine they will be powered by the diesel or petrol in an ICE vehicle. The ICE drivers fall to a quarter (25 per cent) by 2035.

Daniel Forsberg, Marketing Manager EVSE at the EV chargepoint manufacturer CTEK, said: “We’re calling UK drivers in their 30s ‘Generation E’ because they are leading the way in practically every question we asked in our nationally representative survey.

“We suspect there are several factors at play in this. People in their 30s are likely to have both the financial means to be able to choose electric and the environmental and climate awareness to want to do so. Not far behind them are the 18 to 29-year-olds, who are the second age group most set to go EV.

“In contrast, it is the older generations aged 55 and above who are least likely to switch, in spite of probably being financially able to do so. They are, we suspect, more wedded to fossil fuels after decades of driving ICE cars.”

Whilst many current EV drivers are set to still be driving the same kind of cars (BEV, PHEV and self-charging hybrid) in 2030 and 2035, the notable shifts the survey predicts include 43 per cent of PHEV drivers going fully electric by 2030 and 57 per cent of them by 2035.

Almost one in three (28 per cent) of self-charging hybrid drivers will by driving a BEV by 2030 and 39 per cent by 2035. Current BEV drivers are most likely to be driving a BEV in 2030 (88 per cent).

Current PHEV and self-charging hybrid drivers are almost universally likely to shun purely ICE vehicles when they next buy a car – just one in 25 (4 per cent) see themselves being powered purely by petrol or diesel.

CTEK also tasked Find Out Now with asking drivers likely to buy a used car next what kind of vehicle they think they will choose. More than a third (35 per cent) said an EV, made up of one in ten (10 per cent) each saying a BEV or a Plug-in Hybrid Electric (PHEV) and 15 per cent saying a hybrid that cannot be plugged in. The majority (64 per cent) of drivers buying used think they will be opting for a used ICE car.

Daniel said: “The used car picture for BEVs and other EVs is evolving rapidly as the first big wave of electric cars enters the second hand market. Our survey shows there is a demand there and again it is ‘Generation E’ in their 30s who lead the way with almost half (48 per cent) thinking they will buy a used EV.

“Overall the survey results point to a rapidly approaching future of mass adoption of electric mobility, especially by the younger generations. This suggests millions more EVs on the UK roads in just a few years, begging the question: where will they all charge? The roll-out of public charging must accelerate to keep pace with the huge demand our survey results suggest will emerge.”