Research on lease and sale of electric vehicles based on value engineering

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) acknowledged as potential means of transportation tools in the near future are widely accepted as the development trend of automobile industry due to its environment protection and fuel energy saving properties. As a product containing new technologies and concepts with little market experience and consumer identification, studying its life cycle operation modes will help to figure out an optimal approach to conduct EVs manufacturing and service. The two common operation modes, lease and sale of EVs, have their own advantages and weaknesses under different scenarios and consumer psychological status. Research and comparisons on the function, cost and value of two operation modes in full life cycle will simulate the rapid development of EVs forming a mature and dynamic operation mechanism. This paper utilised approaches in value engineering, putting forward customer requirements and technical elements of EV lease and sale based on quality assessment and customer-perceived value, proposing the metric method of function and cost coefficient by mathematical modelling, and conducting value coefficient analysis and comparison based on customer’s risk aversion psychology. An illustrative example raised for studying operation mode of three different kinds of EVs based on the analysis of value coefficient, providing guideline for manufacturer and servicers of EVs.