US/Canadian study finds EV buyers are thinking 'beyond the tailpipe'
Fri 28 June 2013
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Car buyers are more likely to buy a plug-in electric vehicle if they know that the electricity used to charge it is from a renewable energy source, according to a study by American and Candadian researchers published in Environmental Research Letters.The study is topical as it links closely to one of the themes of the LowCVP Conference which takes place this Thursday, July 11.
Jonn Axsen from Canada’s Simon Fraser University and Kenneth Kurani of the University of California, Davis, US surveyed three different types of American car buyers: conventional new vehicle buyers, hybrid vehicle buyers and PEV buyers. They found that there was a 23% increase in demand for PEVs when buyers of conventional cars were offered a green electricity programme together with an electric vehicle.
They asked the respondents to state their interest in a PEV as their next vehicle; in purchasing green electricity; and in combining the two products. “We found that combining, for example, a solar-cell system installation with the sale of a PEV made it a more attractive purchase,” Axsen told Environmental Research Web. “We were expecting a small increase in interest, but did not expect a 23% increase in demand from conventional car buyers.”
Overall, Axsen and Kurani discovered that about one-third of conventional car buyers value the combination of a PEV with green electricity; the proportion is much higher among previous buyers of hybrid or plug-in electric vehicles.
Quoted in Environmental Research, Axsen said: “We have shown that offering a combination of a PEV with a green-energy package can increase demand for PEVs”. “Some car manufacturers, specifically BMW, are already offering this combination of products and we can envisage that other manufaturers may do the same as a way of stimulating demand.”
The consumer implications of thinking 'beyond the tailpipe' will be among the issues discussed at the LowCVP's Annual Conference on July 11.
BMW is amongst the speakers.
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