EV misinformation: the myths still hanging about in 2026 and why they’re still wrong

Watch one cute cat video on social media, and you are presented with five more. Excellent. Can’t have enough cat videos. They are harmless and delightful. 

Accidentally watch that video about lizard people your odd relative sent you, and you are presented with five more. Not good. They are incorrect and annoying, and spread unhelpful ideas that benefit no one. 

Social media algorithms (which show you more of the type of content you have engaged with already) are a double-edged sword. In some ways, they’re great for finding out more about a topic, but they are also vulnerable to spreading misinformation.

For example, a recent report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit suggests that around 25% of articles about EVs contained some form of misinformation. 

If a quarter of articles about EVs contain information that is factually incorrect, chances are that someone taking their first steps towards electric driving will see them. This could put lots of drivers off the idea unnecessarily, and contributes to them missing out on cheaper, greener transport (sad face). 

Here are the most common bits of EV misinformation we come across, and why you should ignore them. 

‘EVs are a failed experiment’, these articles suggest. Briefly popular in the COVID lockdowns when no one really had to go anywhere, motorists are now waking up to the fact they are impractical. 

This, however, is not the case. Registrations of new EVs have been steadily increasing year-on-year. In 2025, we’ve seen a 23.6% year-on-year increase in the number of new EVs on the roads, with EVs taking an extra 4.7% market share over 2024 figures.

What’s more, around 90% of EV drivers would not go back to petrol or diesel having made the switch to an EV. So, it looks like demand for EVs is here to stay.

Videos of vehicle fires win engagement because they are shocking. But relying on them as a single source of truth ignores a boatload of (less shareable) evidence that EVs are the safest cars on the road: 

• EVs make up a disproportionate proportion of Euro NCP top scorers
• EVs have larger crumple zones, with more stability provided by a heavy battery
• EVs are 20x less likely to catch fire than petrol/diesel cars, according to major studies

EVs also benefit from over-the-air software updates, which offer improvements to your EV’s features based on real driving data. For example, you might download improvements to your blind spot monitoring system, or a new airbag firing sequence to protect you in a side impact.

This one always leaves us scratching our heads. It is potentially true if you’re looking at JUST the list price (though with the explosion of EVs into the market and the massive advances in technology, those have been falling significantly). 

But we all know that the cost of a car is more than just the list price. 

Firstly, there’s the cost of fuelling your car. Whilst petrol prices have been steadily on the up, you can charge an EV at home for as little as 2p per mile (using a specialist EV tariff like Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus Go). 

Public charging sets you back a little more (around 9-17p per mile). This works out at around the cost of petrol, or a little cheaper. Do the bulk of your charging at home to really see the difference.

EVs are also cheaper to maintain because they have fewer moving parts. Electric motors are less complex than the internal combustion engines that power petrol/diesel cars, so there’s less to go wrong – so you spend less money on maintenance.

The average real range for an EV currently sits at around 235 miles. That’s enough to get from London to Leeds with no charging stops – with range left over for errands whilst you’re there. 

It’s also further than the average EV driver drives per week. So, nine times out of ten, you’ll be able to top up at home anyway, for as little as 2p per mile when charging off-peak. 

When you do need to top up en route, you’ll be able to use one of the UK’s 86,000+ public charging points (up from just 15,000 five years ago) – and you can find them super easily with the Octopus Electroverse app, which allows you to plan charging stops along your route.

Not with Intelligent EV. 

Our personal leasing scheme provides everything you need to make the switch simply and affordably, including: 

• Popular EVs - choose from our expert-picked selection of EVs. Enjoy the latest tech on new models, or save a little more with one of our approved used cars. 
• Smart charging - save money at home and on the road with exclusive discounts on Electroverse and Octopus Energy’s smart tariff.
• Servicing and maintenance - we’ll keep your car in top shape with included servicing, maintenance, and repairs. 
• Extra Octopus perks - save £500 on heat pumps and solar panels with Octopus Energy and slash your energy bills further (plus more goodies when your car is delivered)