How Much Polish Consumers Know about Alternative Fuel Vehicles? Impact of Knowledge on the Willingness to Buy

Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska,Joanna Kott,Marek Kott

doi:10.3390/en14051438

Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska, Joanna Kott + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051438

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Abstract

Limited consumer knowledge reduces the chances of the spread of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), and hence slows down AFV market spread. In our empirical survey conducted in the first quarter of 2020 among 1002 Poles planning to buy a car in the next 12 months or who have just bought one, we examine what socio-economic and attitudinal factors influence their willingness to buy an AFV. In particular, we are interested in exploring how AFV knowledge related to understanding of the differences between hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), as well as brand recognition associate with the willingness to buy. To the best our knowledge, this is a unique study among consumers in Central and Eastern Europe, characterized by lower exposure to AFVs and lower purchasing power. Our results indicate that males with pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors who are interested in modern automotive technologies and have good AFV brand recognition are predominated to be willing to buy an AFV in the near future.

Highlights

IntroductionSustainable transport is necessary to enable the achievement of a variety of sustainable development goals (SDGs), both directly and indirectly in the following areas: energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, urban access, and fossil fuel subsidies, as well as agricultural productivity, air pollution, access to safe drinking water, sustainable cities, reduction of food loss, climate change adaptation, and climate change mitigation [1]
Within our study we want to verify the relationship between some socio-economic attributes and willingness to buy, and we propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 5 (H5)
By means of the ordinal logit regression model, we estimate the likelihood of the willingness to buy an alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) with reference to explanatory factors

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable transport is necessary to enable the achievement of a variety of sustainable development goals (SDGs), both directly and indirectly in the following areas: energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, urban access, and fossil fuel subsidies, as well as agricultural productivity, air pollution, access to safe drinking water, sustainable cities, reduction of food loss, climate change adaptation, and climate change mitigation [1]. AFVs are perceived as a great chance for smart urban mobility where a combination of sustainability and innovation is required [5,6]. Smart and sustainable urban mobility is an important part of a smart city, where innovation technology adopted in AFV may lead to lower emissions and greater comfort of living [5]. That is why governments around the world intend to adopt

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