Inaccuracy versus volatility – Which is the lesser evil in battery electric vehicles?

Abstract

Due to the limited range of battery electric vehicles, research has emphasized a frequently observed dimension of driver stress referred to as a concern of becoming stranded due to a depleted battery known as range stress. It has been suggested that the appropriate provision of range-related information through in-vehicle information systems constitutes a promising solution to overcome range stress. However, drivers often struggle to understand the influencing factors of the displayed range in battery electric vehicles and thus lose trust in the range estimation. Building on field experiments in real traffic situations, we aim to investigate the influence of two range gauges typically present in battery electric vehicles, which differ in terms of information accuracy and displayed volatility, on the perception of trust in the estimates and range stress. In addition, we aim to explore how trust in the range estimates influences the perception of range stress and how trust and range stress affect the acceptance of battery electric vehicles. We found that displaying accurate but volatile range information results in higher perception of range stress and a lower feeling of trust in comparison to the provision of less accurate but less volatile range information. In addition, we observed that higher levels of trust in range estimates leads to lower range stress and higher acceptance of battery electric vehicles. Finally, we showed that range stress is negatively related to battery electric vehicle acceptance.