To Buy or Not to Buy – Exploratory Mixed-Method Results from Current and Potential Electric Vehicle Owners in Germany

Abstract

Although electric vehicles have gained market success, consumer acceptance remains crucial for decarbonizing the transportation sector. Previous studies on electric vehicle acceptance often surveyed inexperienced or only interested individuals. Moreover, previous studies did not differentiate between battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), which produce different acceptance barriers and usage patterns. This paper fills a critical research gap by comparing acceptance of electric vehicles by users of battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and conventional vehicles (ICE). We did this via focus group discussions and a quantitative survey of 1,015 participants, with one third actual PHEV- and one third BEV-users. Furthermore, attention was laid on how the purchase decision matured. The findings were as follows. Firstly, participants were barely able to differentiate between different stages of their purchasing process. Secondly, with regard to the general question of why someone buys a new vehicle, we found that the option for a leasing contract was especially important for PHEV- and ICE-buyers, whereas BEV-buyers most frequently mentioned a good price or lower costs with the new vehicle as decisive purchase argument. Thirdly, the focus group discussions showed that for EV-buyers financial aspects were no barrier for the purchase of an EV, but they were able to find an offer which satisfied them. Fourthly, driving pleasure and comfort were not the main reasons for buying an EV, but, as also seen in the third result, lower costs or a good price. Fifthly, a majority of ICE-owners are convinced that electric vehicles are portrayed (way) too positively in the public discussion. Finally, people with BEVs tend to have more vehicles in their household than either PHEVs or ICE-households, which implies that BEVs still are additional cars in households.