An integrated behavioral approach to analyze the adoption of electric vehicles in the context of a developing country

Abstract

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are considered the best alternative vehicular technology having the potential to cater climatic change and energy security issues of the nations. Despite various promotional policy measures, the penetration of EVs is also observed very low, especially in the developing economies in the Indian subcontinent. This demands a comprehensive analysis of individuals’ EV adoption characteristics and the review of recent literature indicated that most of the research on EV adoption solely focuses on either the psychological aspects leading to its purchase, ignoring the available alternatives or on the conventional choice modelling techniques which do not explicitly consider the psychological motivation to choose the innovative technology. Therefore, this study integrates both behaviour modelling and conventional choice modelling in order to unfold the important determinants of EV adoption in developing economies. This study was conducted in India and the results of Hybrid Choice Modelling (HCM) highlighted that latent attitudes such as marketing perceptions, EV performance, policy perceptions, and EV usage constraints are significant factors influencing the EV adoption intention of individuals. In addition, the study also revealed that on-road price, EV adoption intention, willingness to pay extra for EVs, monthly household income, and age are also important predictors for choice between EVs and conventional vehicles. The study also pinpoints that pricing the electric SUV cars below INR 17 lakhs would make people consider choosing it over the conventional one.