Can product bundling increase the joint adoption of electric vehicles, solar panels and battery storage? Explorative evidence from a choice-based conjoint study in Austria

Abstract

Although electric vehicle (EV) sales have recently been increasing, EVs can only contribute to mitigating climate change if the power they require is generated from renewable energy sources. Hence, a product bundle of EVs with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels in combination with battery storage (BS) for households could be instrumental in improving EV adoption rates and thus also their carbon footprint. We conducted a choice-based conjoint experiment with 393 respondents in Austria to investigate the effect of EV-PV-BS product bundles on purchase intention. Our data show that a majority of potential EV drivers, given the choice, would prefer to purchase an EV in such a bundle. Further, the purchase intention for a PV and BS is twice as high in a bundle with an EV than standalone. Segmentation analysis identified four potential customer segments, which we labelled “Price-Sensitive Non-Owners”, “Energy Self-Sufficient Owners”, “Economically Rational Owners” and “Likely Non-Adopters”. The segments specifically differ in their product preferences, which highlights a need for designing customized bundle offerings. Moreover, we show that policy incentives are more effective when product bundles are labelled with price tags already discounted by subsidies. We draw implications for practitioners and policymakers, as well as proposing areas of further research.