Incentives and concerns on vehicle-to-grid technology expressed by Australian employees and employers

Abstract

• Commuters are willing to reduce their upfront costs on electric vehicles and the associated vehicle to grid technology. • Respondents want to reduce their daily transport costs on transportation by using the vehicle to grid technology. • Employers are concerned with the cost of the vehicle to grid technology. Electromobility options, especially electric vehicles (EVs) are more environmentally friendly, efficient and economical than conventional vehicles (CVs). There is a low market penetration of EVs and associated vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Australia compared to some European countries like Norway. Thus, transport planners and electrical grid policymakers need to investigate commuters’ perceptions and behaviours related to EVs and V2G and the effects of incentives, as commuters will eventually switch from CVs to EVs. Our study investigated commuters’ perceptions of and attitudes to V2G technology adoption at workplaces. The main findings are: 1) Commuters are willing to reduce their upfront costs when adopting EVs and associated V2G technologies. 2) Commuters want to reduce their daily transportation costs by using V2G technologies and care less about transport sustainability . 3) The greatest concerns of employers are that the cost of the V2G technology which could be too high and that its internal rate of return is unclear.