16 ÓCentre for Economics and Business Research Figure 3 Proportion responding that they have cut down on non-essential vehicle travel 4.5. Affordability of electric vehicles A typical counter to those facing increases in tax on fuel is to say that they should use electric vehicles. We therefore look below at the affordability of electric vehicles. Table 4 shows the annual spending in 2019/20 on both purchase of vehicles and on fuel by income decile for those who have at least one car available. The spending rises from £1917 per annum for the poorest group to £5563per annum for the richest group. We have investigated the cheapest annual leasing cost for an electric car on the EDF website which is £3,416 for a Renault Zoe. We have colour coded the table. Those highlighted in yellow means can afford an electric vehicle, those highlighted in green can afford with a squeeze. Those not highlighted at all would find it more or less impossible to afford an electric vehicle even if they had an adequate credit rating. So, access to an electric vehicle is a pipe dream for half of the population and only available with some difficulty for a further 30%.
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