Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe

Despite a potentially revolutionary shift towards electric mobility in the passenger vehicle market, the academic and policymaking communities remain wedded to a techno-economic paradigm that may not fully appreciate deeper social and geographic elements of a transition to electric vehicles. In this...

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Main Authors: Sovacool, B, Kester, J, Noel, L, De Rubens, G
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019
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author Sovacool, B
Kester, J
Noel, L
De Rubens, G
author_facet Sovacool, B
Kester, J
Noel, L
De Rubens, G
author_sort Sovacool, B
collection OXFORD
description Despite a potentially revolutionary shift towards electric mobility in the passenger vehicle market, the academic and policymaking communities remain wedded to a techno-economic paradigm that may not fully appreciate deeper social and geographic elements of a transition to electric vehicles. In this paper, based primarily on bivariate statistical analysis as well as a hierarchical regression analysis of a survey distributed to >5000 respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, we analyze how perceptions and attitudes towards electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technologies differ by income, political affiliation, and geography. Although our findings confirm EV ownership and mobility patterns in general are related to income—those with higher incomes both own more EVs and drive more generally—they also confirm that interest in EVs is not so strongly related. Lower income groups seem to ask less from their cars, thus potentially opening up a market for cheaper low-range alternates. Political orientation is correlated to car and EV ownership, with those on the “left” more interested yet those on the “right” more able and willing to buy expensive cars. Moreover, we see variation in preferences across urban and rural subcategories, and our findings strongly suggest that EVs need not be promoted only for city or suburban areas. When controlling for variables, a multilevel regression analysis does not change the overall thrust of these associations.
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spelling oxford-uuid:38b5037f-ada2-49d6-9829-0fdf5de64c7b2022-03-26T13:51:43ZIncome, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern EuropeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:38b5037f-ada2-49d6-9829-0fdf5de64c7bEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2019Sovacool, BKester, JNoel, LDe Rubens, GDespite a potentially revolutionary shift towards electric mobility in the passenger vehicle market, the academic and policymaking communities remain wedded to a techno-economic paradigm that may not fully appreciate deeper social and geographic elements of a transition to electric vehicles. In this paper, based primarily on bivariate statistical analysis as well as a hierarchical regression analysis of a survey distributed to >5000 respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, we analyze how perceptions and attitudes towards electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technologies differ by income, political affiliation, and geography. Although our findings confirm EV ownership and mobility patterns in general are related to income—those with higher incomes both own more EVs and drive more generally—they also confirm that interest in EVs is not so strongly related. Lower income groups seem to ask less from their cars, thus potentially opening up a market for cheaper low-range alternates. Political orientation is correlated to car and EV ownership, with those on the “left” more interested yet those on the “right” more able and willing to buy expensive cars. Moreover, we see variation in preferences across urban and rural subcategories, and our findings strongly suggest that EVs need not be promoted only for city or suburban areas. When controlling for variables, a multilevel regression analysis does not change the overall thrust of these associations.
spellingShingle Sovacool, B
Kester, J
Noel, L
De Rubens, G
Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe
title Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe
title_full Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe
title_fullStr Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe
title_full_unstemmed Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe
title_short Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe
title_sort income political affiliation urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles evs and vehicle to grid v2g technologies in northern europe
work_keys_str_mv AT sovacoolb incomepoliticalaffiliationurbanismandgeographyinstatedpreferencesforelectricvehiclesevsandvehicletogridv2gtechnologiesinnortherneurope
AT kesterj incomepoliticalaffiliationurbanismandgeographyinstatedpreferencesforelectricvehiclesevsandvehicletogridv2gtechnologiesinnortherneurope
AT noell incomepoliticalaffiliationurbanismandgeographyinstatedpreferencesforelectricvehiclesevsandvehicletogridv2gtechnologiesinnortherneurope
AT derubensg incomepoliticalaffiliationurbanismandgeographyinstatedpreferencesforelectricvehiclesevsandvehicletogridv2gtechnologiesinnortherneurope