Does the new Electric Vehicle technology also require less traditional marketing strategies?

Building on earlier research in forecasting acceptance of electric vehicles three marketing communication strategies are compared. The strategies are information acceleration, show room visits and free trials. In the first a computerised marketing program, M-EV99, which simulates web-based marketing, is developed and used. The second strategy, show room visits, simulates the traditional car dealer situation while the third, free trials, is an extension of the second. Seen with the eyes of a potential customer, the electric vehicles represent a new, and unknown, technology, which mainly removes one of many non-market disadvantages of traditional vehicles, local emissions, and reduces significantly the second, greenhouse gas emissions. However, these benefits come at high costs to the individual owner/user of the electric vehicle: higher price, limited driving range, long recharging times, and lower top speed and acceleration. A product like this hardly sells itself. Hence, skilful marketing is needed in order for it to be accepted and diffusedUpprättat; 2000; Bibliografisk uppgift: cd-rom; 20070828 (biem