Discontinuance Among California\u2019s Electric Vehicle Buyers: Why Are Some Consumers Abandoning Electric Vehicles?

Climate Change Clearinghousehttps://doi.org/10.7922/G26971W02021PDFTech ReportHardman, ScottTal, GilUniversity of California, Davis, Institute of Transportation StudiesNational Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST)United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyUnited States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) ProgramUniversity of California, Berkeley. Institute of Transportation StudiesNational Center for Sustainable TransportationUnited StatesAutomobile ownershipConsumer behaviorConsumersCustomer satisfactionElectric vehiclesSurveysMarketsHybrid automobilesClimate changeNCST-UCD-RR-21-04USDOT Grant 69A3551747114Final Report (October 2019 \u2013 December 2020)For the market introduction of electric vehicles to be successful, first-time adopters need to make continual purchases of the vehicles. Discontinuance, the act of abandoning a new technology after once being an adopter, has implications for market growth and could prevent electric vehicles from ever reaching 100% market share. Using results from five surveys of electric vehicle owners, the researchers examine discontinuance among battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle adopters. In this sample, discontinuance occurs at a rate of 21% for plug-in hybrid adopters and 19% for battery electric vehicle adopters. They show that discontinuance is related to dissatisfaction with convenience of charging, owning household vehicles with lower efficiencies, being a later adopter of PEVs, not having Level 2 (220V) charging from home, and not being male. Despite consumers overcoming initial barriers of PEVs, it appears some barriers, notably their refueling style, resurface during ownership and eventually become a barrier to continuing with PEV ownership.113