ABM_1 - Flipbook - Page 11
ROUND-TABLE
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
(From L to R)
Adrian Simpson, ABM
Oliver Phillpott, Generational
Graham O'Reilly, EV Cables
Lucia Revell, Monta
Jens-Peter Sjöberg, Phyron
Debbie Staveley, bClear Communications
Milly Standing, ABM
Tanya Sinclair, Electric Vehicles UK
Phil Wilbraham, Pendragon Vehicle Management
Aaron Sweet, waEV-charge
James Staunton, bClear Communications
Jessica Bird, ABM
consumer or fleet, but there are
some options for breaking this
down into tranches.
Revell says: “I think it’s
black and white, you have to
differentiate the messaging
between Millennials versus
Gen Z, for example. Even just
because they’re consuming
media in different ways.
“Millennials might be more
interested in talking about
battery health. For Gen Z, it's
more about the tech or the
environmental credentials.”
Revell adds that younger
consumers, particularly based
in London, are also shifting
away from buying to leasing,
which should factor into the
messaging.
Staunton notes that younger
cohorts are less likely to have
had their experience soured
by the teething problems of
early EV development. Where
older buyers might need their
concerns soothed, marketing to
the next generation should focus
more on the positives.
Sinclair agrees: “Older buyers
have been around and seen the
birth of the market, which has
cast a very long shadow."
Employing this with younger
potential buyers, though, is
going to alert them to historical
negatives they might not have
had in mind in the first place.
There are, of course,
segments that go beyond age.
For example, leaning into the
tech angle might help reach
those with less of an inherent
interest in cars.
O’Reilly says: “It's actually
drawing new people in to be
car enthusiasts. I didn't really
come from a car background,
but as soon as it became more
like a mobile phone on wheels,
I thought, ‘that's a new toy to
play with’.”
The next chapter
Normalisation is built on
trust, simplicity and wordof-mouth, especially through
used-EV confidence and
better retail journeys.
There are still practical
hurdles to be overcome, from
infrastructure and procurement
to rationalising the used
EV market.
In the meantime, as the
market enters its 'early majority'
phase, the market must
centre around messaging that
prioritises trust, transparency
and normalisation.
Phillpott says: “This is the right
time to think about where that
storytelling is. I think we should
be talking less about the cutting
edge tech, and more about how
it fits into your life, and how
it's already working for lots of
people – making it super easy
and digestible for people to
understand.
“We're starting to get to the
consumers who aren't going
to be reading through every
little detailed spec. They need
a simpler journey and just to
be able to digest and consume
information in an easier way.”
Sinclair adds: “The next stage
is establishing trust. Trust in
the brands, in the products, and
in the information that you're
accessing.”
Normalisation might come
from multiple sources, some
that can be controlled – training
dealership staff to have EV
conversations as easily as ICE,
for example – and some that
are more organic, such as ‘the
neighbour effect’ and word
of mouth.
For those more organic routes
to work, consumers must be
able to see simple, emotive
messaging and digestible data
as soon as their eyes turn
toward this market. i
Q4 2025 AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
11
