Fossil fuel- free by 2030 : A quantitative study on battery electric vehicle adoption and the moderating role of total cost of ownership

Battery electric vehicles (BEV) are promoted as a viable near-term technology to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). With Sweden's relatively slow adoption of the BEV in combination with the Swedish government's target of a vehicle fleet independent of fossil fuels by 2030, we study how adoption intentions are influenced by vehicle attribute and when these effects influence BEV adoption. This thesis builds on previous research investigating the effects of barriers and drivers on consumers intentions to adopt electric vehicles. Our study has more specifically examined Swedish consumers intentions to adopt a BEV by conducting a quantitative designed study. We considered the barrier of high perceived price and the driver of environmental self-identity, alongside demographic factors. Furthermore, we also highlight the understudied concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) by studying its moderating role on the relationship between high perceived price, environmental self-identity and consumers intention to adopt BEV’s. We find that the barrier of high perceived price had no significant influence on intentions to adopt BEV’s, while environmental self-identity was positive and a strong predictor of consumers intentions. Additionally, our results show that the moderating effect of attention to cost (TCOA) and level of information (TCOB) was only significant at one of the four interactions. Concluding that the moderator TCOB has a positive effect on the relationship between high perceived price and intention to adopt BEV’s. These results have implication for BEV marketing, policy and consumers, and suggests that symbolic attributes of the battery electric vehicle have a tendency to reinforce consumers self-identity. This serves as a promising non-financial strategy for increasing BEV adoption. Moreover, the results indicate that consumer with little knowledge of the cost associated with car ownership (low TCOB) are more sensitive to the negative effects from the price of BEV’s in relation to their adoption intentions.