Factors and barriers affecting the purchase of electric vehicles in the Italian market

Abstract

Market orientation is an essential requirement to implement a total quality management approach in a production system, and in turn to improve the quality of products. This is especially true for the automotive industry where customers' preferences change relatively quickly over time, and purchase trends are recently affected by the introduction of electric vehicles. In this paper, an electric vehicle market analysis concerning with the study of automotive customers' needs is examined. The main economic, qualitative/technical, and environmental/practical factors, incentives, and barriers that influence Italian customers' motivations, when purchasing a vehicle are evaluated after a survey. This study also attempts to ascertain which factors could encourage the adoption of electric vehicles. The majority of respondents agreed that purchase price, tax and monetary incentives, fuel price, fuel consumption, reliability, safety in case of collision, and greenhouse gas emissions are the main factors considered before purchasing a new vehicle.