Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Prior research into predictors of battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption intention has established that BEV adoption intentions are driven not only by practical factors such as expected fuel and purchase costs, but also by psychological predictors such the perception that a BEV displays one’s environmentalist self-identity. Prior research has further found mixed impacts of perceived vehicle range on intention to purchase a BEV, suggesting that the extent to which vehicle range affects the appeal of BEVs depends on additional factors not previously considered. We posit that the concept of perceived mobility necessity (PMN), which originated in travel behavior research, may be a key predictor of BEV adoption intentions. In this context, “mobility” refers to a person’s ability to move easily between different activity sites. In our research, we expand on the definition of PMN used in prior work by splitting it into constructs addressing both daily travel and occasional long-distance travel.

We hypothesize (1) that occasional long-distance PMN will be a more powerful driver of BEV adoption than daily PMN; many BEVs currently have sufficient range to complete daily driving tasks, excepting the case of extremely long commutes. However, BEVs are not yet suitable for long-distance travel, thus we expect that people who perceive they have a high need to occasionally undertake such travel will be hesitant to adopt a BEV. Further, we expect that BEV-related limitations on mobility will only be important predictors of adoption intention for people who otherwise see appeal in BEVs. Following prior literature, we hypothesize (2) that seeing BEVs as being reflective of one’s environmentalist self-identity will be a powerful positive predictor of adoption intention. Finally, we hypothesize (3) that for people who value BEVs for their ability to show environmentalist status, higher occasional long-distance PMN will dampen willingness to adopt a BEV. That is, we expect occasional long-distance PMN to reflect a barrier to BEV adoption for people who would otherwise intend to adopt a BEV.

We test this series of hypotheses with survey data collected from a sample of over 1000 potential vehicle purchasers, and perform analyses using structural equation modelling. Among other innovations, our models will use the two PMN constructs to incorporate lifestyle factors. Our findings will have implications for future policy development to remove barriers to BEV adoption, in particular by clarifying the extent to which range limitations continue to play a role in preventing those who may be inclined to adopt a BEV from actually adopting one. Understanding the extent to which daily and occasional PMN limit BEV adoption intentions will further allow policies to be targeted. For example, if occasional PMN proves to be a more powerful negative predictor than daily PMN, this would suggest that networks of chargers allowing long-distance travel are key to higher BEV uptake.