Understanding discontinuance among California's electric vehicle owners

[usonian]

https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/research-product/discontinuance-among-californias-electric-vehicle-buyers-why-are-some-consumers

For the market introduction of electric vehicles to be successful, first-time adopters need to make continual purchases of the vehicles. Discontinuance, the act of abandoning a new technology after once being an adopter, has implications for market growth and could prevent electric vehicles from ever reaching 100% market share. Using results from five surveys of electric vehicle owners, the researchers examine discontinuance among battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle adopters. In this sample, discontinuance occurs at a rate of 21% for plug-in hybrid adopters and 19% for battery electric vehicle adopters. They show that discontinuance is related to dissatisfaction with convenience of charging, owning household vehicles with lower efficiencies, being a later adopter of PEVs, not having Level 2 (220V) charging from home, and not being male. Despite consumers overcoming initial barriers of PEVs, it appears some barriers, notably their refueling style, resurface during ownership and eventually become a barrier to continuing with PEV ownership.

Paywalled at Nature Energy 👎
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00814-9

But, as is common, the paper is available from the authors or government agency sponsor. 😎

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/56490/dot_56490_DS1.pdf (PDF)

[getagrip_already]

1. Not being male?

Huh?

[usonian]

4. Did that ever sound weird!

Must be 10,000 better ways to say gender. Go figure.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Yeah... This may help

…

2.1. Electric Vehicle Adopters
Early studies used stated preference methods with surveys of general population to identify PEV adopters [2–17]. These studies typically found those with high household income, who are mostly male, with a high level of education, and have multiple vehicles in the household were most likely to buy a PEV. More recent research gathered data from consumers who have purchased a PEV [18–23]. In Sweden PEV buyers were found to be mostly male (76.5%), 53 years old on average, and have higher levels of education and income than buyers of conventional vehicles [24]. A 2016 study in Norway found between 80-83% of PEV adopters are male, they are between 47-53 years old on average, around 80% have obtained a university education, and they have high household incomes [20]. A study on mostly US buyers found 92% were male, most respondents were aged 35-64, 85% had obtained a university degree, and 76.5% had a household income of more than $90,000 per year [23]. A more recent study on PEV adopters in California identified four segments of PEV adopters: high income families, mid to high income old families, mid to high income young families, and middle-income renters. The largest cluster of PEV buyers was high income families, who earn on average $252,200 per year are 43.5 years old on average, are 76% male, 92% own their own home, they have 2.6 vehicles in their household. A study on buyers of Tesla BEVs found that 85% of had a university degree, 58% earned more than $250,000 per years, and that most buyers were between 40-69 yeas old [25]. A Canadian study found PEV buyers are 82% male, mostly 35 years old and above, with 65% having completed a university degree, and 67% earning more than CAD$90,000 per year [26].

…

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

6. In reading quickly

they didn't say why males had higher rates.

EV have instant torque - so think woo-hoo acceleration, techie, along with a tendency to have the money to buy one.

So, basically, a toy car for joy riding, and not a climate thing.

[JohnSJ]

2. I can understand for all electric, but PHEeV give the best of both worlds so there is no

range anxiety

[hunter]

7. Yep. 90% of the time on short trips around town they'll be running all electric...

... and in the future they might go the longer distances running on carbon neutral synthetic fuels.

You could build a dozen plug-in hybrid vehicles with the same mass of batteries you'd use in a single all electric vehicle.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. Probably more than 90%

I remember when GM was first producing the Volt™ one of their concerns was that the gas lines might become fouled, simply because people were seldom (if ever) using their ICE “range extender” so, if they did need to use it one day, it might not work!

Back when GM was researching the EV1, they found that a 60 mile range was sufficient to satisfy 99% of people’s needs.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. FWIW: This report is dated April 2021 based on surveys conducted between 2015 and 2019

That does not mean that it is completely invalid, but conditions are changing rapidly…

[Think. Again.]

8. Excellent point!

I might add that we could easily fix the 100 percent market share problem by NOT SELLING ANYMORE FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION VEHICLES!

[ShazzieB]

14. A worthy goal, but I don't think that's doable yet.

There are still too many Americans without access to a way to charge an ev. For example, I live in a large apartment complex with hundreds of units in dozens of buildings. There is literally NO way to charge an ev on the property, and public places where you can charge one are very few and far between. The local community college has a few spaces reserved for evs that are supplied with chargers, but I'm not aware of a single other place around here that has such facilities (I can't swear none exists but if they do, they're a well kept secret.)

Not everyone lives in a single family home with a garage where you can park your ev and plug it in every night. I don’t know if it's different in other parts of the country, but right now, evs are not a viable choice for a large percentage of Americans. I hate to use the word "privilege," but that's the first word that comes to my mind whenever I hear a statement about how we should all switch over to evs. (I know that's not exactly what you said, but the implications is there, if you think about it.)

It would be wonderful if we could all go electric, but until the necessary infrastructure for charging is place, I don't see any way to make it happen. (And don't even get me started on the cost of buying an electric car. I can't afford any kind of new car, period, even though I could really use one.)

[Think. Again.]

15. Yep...

...building out the needed charging stations, training up the needed repair techs, buldin out the supply chain for all the needdbits and pieces, and especially building out the needed non-CO2 power sources to feed the charging stations, it's all part of making some progress on the transition away from fossil fuels.

Lots to do! Let's get to it!

[ShazzieB]

17. Yes, let's!

I couldn't agree more. It's a damned shame we didn't get started a long time ago, but there's no time like the present!

[Think. Again.]

18. .

[Mistermike]

9. Appears Still Valid

20 % Buyers Remorse still appears valid.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/buyers-remorse-why-20-percent-early-ev-adopters-now-defecting-internal-combustion/

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. They're citing the same study...

So… I don’t think that says anything about its validity…

I’m filing it under “FUD.”

[Mistermike]

12. My reason

The only reason I own one is because I can charge it at work for free.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. It's an interesting reason...

But, if that’s what got you to buy one, great!

[Think. Again.]

16. Any idea of what the average buyers remorse percentage is on ICE's for comparison?