The 3 things people still get wrong about electric cars

Tales about electric cars running out of charge, bursting into flames and leaving drivers with nowhere to charge are a thing of the past – and there’s plenty of evidence to show this.

Running out of charge. Catching fire. Range anxiety. When it comes to EVs, it’s a tale as old as time – or, more accurately, as old as the electric car. But look beyond the sensationalist headlines, and three of the biggest fears surrounding electric cars don’t quite stack up.

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Myth 1: “You’ll run out of battery before you get to your final destination”

The claim is that EV drivers are constantly worried about their remaining range, with the possibility of getting stranded miles from the nearest charger.

It’s a classic range anxiety argument – but how realistic is it?

The reality is that most everyday journeys aren’t that long.

According to the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) National Travel Survey 2025, 70% of trips in England were under five miles.

Meanwhile, the average real-world range of a new electric car is around 234-243 miles, according to the EV Database. This means most everyday journeys used only a fraction of the available battery.

This common myth is mostly busted.

Of course, range still matters on long journeys, particularly for drivers without access to home charging. But for everyday driving, the idea that EVs are constantly on the brink of running out of power is becoming increasingly at odds with how people travel.

Myth 2: “Electric cars catch fire more easily”

There’s also the myth that because EVs contain large lithium-ion batteries, they’re supposedly much more likely to catch fire than petrol or diesel cars.

It’s an alarming idea – but the evidence says otherwise.

Research indicates that the chance of an electric car catching fire is considerably lower than a petrol or diesel one.

A study by automotive risk intelligence organisation Thatcham Research backs this. It found that 0.003% of EVs were the subject of fire claims, compared with 0.007% for petrol cars and 0.011% for diesel vehicles.

Then there’s a report by the Energy Saving Trust, which says that there’s only a 0.0012% chance of an EV catching fire, compared to a 0.1% chance of a petrol or diesel vehicle catching fire.

That’s not to say EV fires aren’t serious. Lithium-ion battery fires can behave differently from petrol or diesel fires, with risks including uncontrolled overheating, reignition and, in some cases, explosions. They can also require significantly more water to cool the battery.

However, modern EVs also use battery management systems, thermal protection and safety systems to monitor and isolate the battery.

This myth is also busted – but with a caveat.

EV battery fires require specific safety procedures, but the available evidence doesn’t support the idea that electric cars are more likely to catch fire than petrol or diesel vehicles.

Myth 3: “There aren’t enough chargers”

The final claim is that EV charging infrastructure hasn’t kept up with the number of electric cars on the road. And if you buy an EV, you’ll struggle to find a charger when you need one – particularly on longer journeys.

It’s a criticism that’s easy to understand. Public charging isn’t perfect, and drivers in some areas can still find the choice of chargers frustratingly limited. There’s also some UK councils that have been found to have no EV chargers installed at all.

This is a myth that we can bust instantly – and the statistics prove it. Even if you stop off at any motorway station, you’re almost guaranteed to come across a public EV charger.

At the end of September 2026, there were 124,738 EV chargers across 48,298 charging locations around the UK, according to EV charging app Zapmap. That’s a 7.4% increase compared with the previous year, with 8,686 new EV chargers added so far in 2026.

The growth is particularly noticeable in the high-powered charging network. The number of public rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers in the UK has grown to 29,722 by the end of September 2026. This is good as these are particularly useful for longer journeys.

Several major companies and charging networks are actively expanding their infrastructure. For instance, BP Pulse is preparing to deploy ultra-fast charging infrastructure across more than 30 motorway service areas.

That doesn’t mean every driver will always find a charger exactly where they want one. Reliability, queues, pricing and regional differences remain genuine issues.

But saying there simply “aren’t enough chargers” misses the bigger picture: the UK charging network is expanding rapidly, particularly at the high-powered end of the market.

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