Name: Amitanand Basavaraj Suralikerimath

Matrikel Nr. 407106

Customers Attitude Towards Electric Cars

Electric cars are being seen as a promising sustainable technology for the future in automotive
sector. They are key in obstructing the CO2 and other hazardous emissions into the atmosphere.
This technology also some drawbacks, especially technology adoption, large-scale behavioural
changes in the pattern related to transportation and above all, the customer psychology towards
the electric cars. The customer has to adopt to this sudden change in the pattern, so it is a big
problem.

The article chosen to study the customer behaviour towards electric cars is “The Response to
Battery Electric Vehicles: UK customer attitude and attributions of Symbolic meaning
following direct experience to reduce psychological distance”. An experiment was performed
on 56 people in UK. Participants were provided with small hatch back electric cars with full
charged batteries which can be driven up-to 100 miles and having an on-board charging unit
which takes 6-7 hrs to get recharged completely. After the driving, they were asked to fill a
questionnaire which consisted of their attitude towards public transport, usage of cars and their
opinion about electric cars. Based on the information collected, participants were categorized
into 4 clusters and key factors considered were engagement with cars and driving and concern
for environment.

The results of the experiment showed that, though drivers agree that electric cars are
environment friendly, they would prefer convectional cars over the electric cars. Some of the
drivers were not so convinced that CO2 emissions affect atmosphere, especially female drivers.
Participants would accept electric cars as their second choice cars, the main reason behind this
was stated as the distance coverage limitation of 100 miles. Other major problem stated was
about the time taken to recharge the battery. Most of them would prefer to recharge at night.
Less interest was shown towards replacing the existing one with the high cost quick charging
unit. People had issues with the availability of charging points at their workplaces,
supermarkets and other public places. Few participants stated problems with the high premiums
to be paid for electric cars than convectional cars but the running costs were also less compared
to latter ones. The participants were very satisfied with smoothness and noiseless acceleration
of electric cars from 0-30 mph.
The current electric cars are not being designed up-to the satisfactory level mark of customers
and the key issues being stated as high costs, availability of recharging units and distance
coverage limitation. However, the research has concluded that running costs of electric cars is
cheaper than convectional cars but hasn’t taken into the account about costs of electricity for
recharging.

References: Skippon, S., Garwood, M., (2011). The Response to Battery Electric Vehicles:
UK customer attitude and attributions of Symbolic meaning following direct experience to
reduce psychological distance. Transportation Research Part D, 16: 525-531.