Abstract
Electric vehicles (EVs) were introduced into the South African market in 2013, and their adoption rate has been very low. There are limited existing studies covering consumer perceptions towards EVs in Africa and, thus, this study investigated possible socio-economic barriers present in the South African automotive market that impede the adoption or consumer purchase intention of EVs. The survey was conducted in the Gauteng Province in South Africa using questionnaires comprised of Likert-type questions. The analysis was conducted using statistical methods comprising mainly of frequency tables and Chi-squared tests on contingency tables. The findings of the study on barriers to adoption of EVs in the market highlighted the high purchase price, high battery price, and high likelihood for owning a secondary vehicle based on the current circumstances as the main purchase intention barriers that the respondents in the Gauteng Province accentuated. However, generally the willingness to buy EVs was high for a majority of the factors that were presented. With these perceived positive opinions from respondents, it is down to government and private companies to provide a conducive environment for the consumers.
Highlights
Climate change became a global issue towards the end of the 20th century as governments, scientists, and international organizations became aware of the adverse impact that increased greenhouse gases have had on our climate since the start of industrialization [1]
The data representation resembled that of the Gauteng Province Census data, with some minor deviations [30]
This study investigated consumers’ responses to some of the factors that are unique to electric vehicle technology
Summary
Climate change became a global issue towards the end of the 20th century as governments, scientists, and international organizations became aware of the adverse impact that increased greenhouse gases have had on our climate since the start of industrialization [1]. The compounding levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere are the result of human activities around the world. All main economic activities contribute in one way or another, but the main culprit is the energy sector through combustion of fossil fuel [2]. The transport sector is one of the contributors to increased GHG emissions, with more than 14% of total global emissions [3,4]. The main problem is that, emissions from this sector are projected to rise over time up to 70% by 2050 based on the business-as-usual scenario [5]
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