Do plug-in hybrid adopters switch to battery electric vehicles (and vice versa)?

Abstract

Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adopters, which include owners of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), have the choice to replace their vehicle with a BEV, PHEV, or conventional vehicle. These replacement choices are important to consider since they can impact PEV market growth. We investigate factors associated with the choice to replace a BEV or a PHEV with a PHEV, BEV, or conventional vehicle using survey responses from 1,446 PEV adopters. Most BEV adopters’ replacement choices are a newer BEV, for around 1/10th the replacement is a PHEV, and around ¼ replace their BEV with a conventional vehicle. PHEV adopters’ replacement choices are split more evenly between BEVs, PHEVs, or conventional vehicles. Replacement choices are correlated with vehicle attributes (e.g., range), satisfaction with vehicle attributes (e.g., charging convenience), home charging access, gas price, demographics, and attitudes toward technology, the environment and travel.