What perception do car connoisseurs have of electric vehicles? Are environmental concerns deciding factors as far as buying a future car is concerned ? In order to respond to these questions, the students from INSA Lyon and Aston Business School surveyed 735 visitors at the Autosport International show in Birmingham.
Assuming that the average motorist perceives the electric vehicle as an urban way of transport, the main principle of the survey was to reveal whether a public enthusiastic about motoring would become potential electric vehicle buyers.
According to the survey results, only 14% of respondents would be prepared to buy electric (3%) or hybrid (11%) models as their next car. The survey results also allow us to see which barriers to electric vehicle use are currently in place.
A surprising statistic, and one that contradicts current debate, is that the price is the least important restraint when it comes to buying an EV. Only 16% named this as the main problem, whereas 27% thought that this would be performance and 53% gave range.
In terms of functionality, the perception of the electric car is relatively positive; indeed, 24% of respondents thought that they were faster and 19% that they were easier to drive.
At a time when car manufacturers and governments are trying to set up the infrastructures necessary to accommodate the electric car, any progress in this area will surely allow gradual change in the perception of the electric vehicle and will convince the 51% of respondents who declared themselves "undecided" to take their first step towards electric mobility.
Marcel Green and Sustainable Mobility are starting a new partnership together … And it’s all happening in the “Interviews” section!
