Consumer preferences for business models in electric vehicle adoption

Abstract

Successful market penetration of electric vehicles may not only rely on the characteristics of the technology but also on the business models available on the market. This study aims to assess and quantify consumer preferences for business models in the context of Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption. In particular, we explore the impact of attitudes on preferences and choices regarding business models. We examine three business models in the present study: battery leasing, vehicle leasing and mobility guarantee. We design a stated choice experiment to disentangle the effect of business models from other factors and estimate a hybrid choice model. According to the results, the preferences for business models depend on the vehicle type: for battery electric vehicle (BEV), vehicle leasing is the most preferred option and battery leasing is the least preferred, while for conventional cars (CV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) the traditional business model of full purchase remains more popular. The attitudes of pro-convenience, pro-ownership and pro-EV leasing are all significantly associated with the choice of business models. As for mobility guarantee, we do not find any significant effect on utility. Finally, we discuss the implications for business strategy and government policy derived from our results.