Electric Vehicle Adoption and Acceptance

Abstract

Individual motorized transport is often considered a civil liberty, yet it is responsible for noise, local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The aforementioned negative externalities of passenger transport could be reduced significantly by using battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). This dissertation investigates the individual, social, technological, as well as political factors that promote BEV uptake. As current uptake depends heavily on individuals’ socio-economic status and interest in new technologies, political measures are necessary to achieve the widespread adoption of BEVs. In democracies, the implementation of these policies depends on their public acceptance. This thesis examines public opinion on potential policy measures to reduce car-transport emissions. It becomes evident that purchase price subsidies and a phase-out of highly consuming fossil-fuelled cars are hardly supported. One of the main findings is that a substantial increase in public charging stations in residential areas is widely endorsed, allowing more apartment-dwellers to switch to BEVs. Furthermore, the thesis explores the effectiveness of experience- and information-based policy measures on the intention to adopt BEVs using a large-scale field experiment. Test-drives and providing information on BEVs stipulates the intention to adopt BEVs and also increases actual BEV adoption. In addition to new findings, this dissertation offers several methodical templates to study the adoption of green technologies and associated policies. In sum, this thesis enables policymakers to formulate effective and publicly accepted policies for a future with considerably reduced transport emissions.