TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of service and government-policy attributes on consumer preferences for electric vehicles in China
AU - Qian, Lixian
AU - Grisolía, Jose M.
AU - Soopramanien, Didier
N1 - Funding Information:
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71573213), Philosophy and Social Sciences Research Funding Program of Jiangsu Department of Education (Grant No. 2015SJD617), and the Research Development Fund of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China (RDF-13-02-15). We thank Jue Wang from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the editor and six anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.
Funding Information:
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71573213 ), Philosophy and Social Sciences Research Funding Program of Jiangsu Department of Education (Grant No. 2015SJD617 ), and the Research Development Fund of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University , China ( RDF-13-02-15 ). We thank Jue Wang from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the editor and six anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - This research focuses on the effects of different types of service attributes and context-based government policies, along with product attributes, on Chinese consumers’ adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Based on a stated choice experiment involving over 1000 respondents in different cities of China, a mixed logit (MXL) model shows that typical product attributes are consistently important for potential car buyers, but that charging service has a mixed effect, depending on the level of service provision and speed. Specifically, the availability of a home charging facility has the strongest influence on consumers’ choice to purchase EVs, and the service speed of public fast service stations is also significant. In relation to government policies, this study finds that in addition to government subsidy, free licensing policy for EVs is very attractive for consumers, compared to the lottery-based licensing for conventional petrol vehicles (PVs). We find that Chinese consumers have the highest willingness to pay for obtaining a free vehicle license for EVs (106,144 RMB on average) and being permitted to install a home charging post (91,039 RMB on average). Our findings imply the importance of considering consumers’ perceived inconvenience associated with using EVs compared to buying and using conventional PVs. Furthermore, policy makers should consider the heterogeneous preference towards EVs when designing intervention policies in the Chinese market.
AB - This research focuses on the effects of different types of service attributes and context-based government policies, along with product attributes, on Chinese consumers’ adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Based on a stated choice experiment involving over 1000 respondents in different cities of China, a mixed logit (MXL) model shows that typical product attributes are consistently important for potential car buyers, but that charging service has a mixed effect, depending on the level of service provision and speed. Specifically, the availability of a home charging facility has the strongest influence on consumers’ choice to purchase EVs, and the service speed of public fast service stations is also significant. In relation to government policies, this study finds that in addition to government subsidy, free licensing policy for EVs is very attractive for consumers, compared to the lottery-based licensing for conventional petrol vehicles (PVs). We find that Chinese consumers have the highest willingness to pay for obtaining a free vehicle license for EVs (106,144 RMB on average) and being permitted to install a home charging post (91,039 RMB on average). Our findings imply the importance of considering consumers’ perceived inconvenience associated with using EVs compared to buying and using conventional PVs. Furthermore, policy makers should consider the heterogeneous preference towards EVs when designing intervention policies in the Chinese market.
KW - Charging services
KW - Electric vehicles
KW - Government policies
KW - Licensing regulation
KW - Mixed logit
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062100390&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tra.2019.02.008
DO - 10.1016/j.tra.2019.02.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85062100390
SN - 0965-8564
VL - 122
SP - 70
EP - 84
JO - Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
JF - Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
ER -