Article ID: | iaor19971991 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 1D |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 131 |
End Page Number: | 150 |
Publication Date: | Dec 1996 |
Journal: | Transportation Research. Part D, Transport and Environment |
Authors: | Sperling Daniel, Kurani Kenneth S., Turrentine Thomas |
The debate over electric vehicles (EVs) pivots largely on issues of market demand: will consumers purchase a vehicle that provides substantially less driving range, yet can be refueled at home, than an otherwise comparable gasoline vehicle? Also, what role do other unique attributes of EVs play in the purchase decision? Most previous studies find that limited driving range is a serious market barrier: many of those same studies ignore or under-value other novel attributes. To prove these future consumer decision processes deeply and robustly, the authors first devised and conducted detailed, interactive and experiment-oriented interviews. Then, incorporating what they learned, the authors designed an innovative mail survey and administered it to 454 multi-car households in California. The four-stage mail survey included a video of EV use and recharging and other informational material, completion of a 3-day trip diary and map of activity locations, and vehicle choice experiments. In addition to propulsion systems, respondends made choices of body styles, driving ranges, and other features. The authors formalized and tested what we call the