Over half of Dutch motorists are considering buying an electric car, motoring organisation ANWB says in its annual survey.

The organisation monitors the popularity of the electric car every year and has – for the third time in a row – predicted that a great number of private car owners would be willing to switch to driving electric. At the moment most electric vehicles on the Dutch roads are largely corporate lease cars.

One in 20 respondents said they would buy an electric car in the next two years and 56% said they would do so at some point in the future, the ANWB said.

The growing interest is due to the fact that electric cars are becoming more affordable and have a bigger range, the ANWB said. The cars are still more expensive to buy and run than petrol or diesel cars but that difference has gone down from 6% percent last year 2% to 3% this year.

Whether a breakthrough is really on the cards depends on government subsidies for new and second-hand electric cars, the ANWB said.

People who are not interested in buying an electric car cite the cost as the main factor. They also mention lack of range and infrastructure for charging car batteries.

The cabinet wants all petrol and diesel cars off the roads by 2030 through a programme of temporary subsidies and tax rebates, and a higher tax on conventional cars.

According to figures from CBS  there are almost 56,000 electric cars on the Dutch roads and around 94,000 hybrid cars.