IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i9p2997-d165410.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Knowledge and Persuasion on the Decision to Adopt or Reject Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Author

Listed:
  • Amy Fry

    (AECOM, 12 Regan Way, Nottingham NG9 6RZ, UK)

  • Tim Ryley

    (Griffith Aviation, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4222, Australia)

  • Robert Thring

    (Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK)

Abstract

Alternative fuel vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, support the imperative to decarbonise the transport sector, but are not yet at a stage in their development where they can successfully compete with conventional fuel vehicles. This paper examines the influence of knowledge and persuasion on the decision to adopt or reject alternative fuel vehicles, a novel and original application of Rogers’ Theory of Diffusion of Innovations. A household questionnaire survey was undertaken with respondents in the Sutton Coldfield suburb of the United Kingdom city of Birmingham. This suburb was previously identified as having a strong spatial cluster of potential early adopters of alternative fuel vehicles. The survey results provide some useful empirical insights around the issues pertaining to the wider adoption of alternative fuel vehicles, even though the data is a bit dated as the survey was conducted in 2013. It is confirmed that respondents have limited knowledge of alternative fuel vehicles and perceptions have led to the development of negative attitudes towards them. The reasons largely relate to three problems: purchase price, limited range and poor infrastructure availability. Most respondents passively rejected alternative fuel vehicles, which confirms that a concerted effort is required to inform the general public about the benefits alternative fuel vehicles.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Fry & Tim Ryley & Robert Thring, 2018. "The Influence of Knowledge and Persuasion on the Decision to Adopt or Reject Alternative Fuel Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:2997-:d:165410
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/2997/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/2997/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Egbue, Ona & Long, Suzanna, 2012. "Barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles: An analysis of consumer attitudes and perceptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 717-729.
    2. Francoise Nemry & Martijn Brons, 2010. "Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles. Market penetration scenarios of electric drive vehicles," JRC Working Papers JRC58748, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    3. Musti, Sashank & Kockelman, Kara M., 2011. "Evolution of the household vehicle fleet: Anticipating fleet composition, PHEV adoption and GHG emissions in Austin, Texas," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 707-720, October.
    4. Kurani, Kenneth S. & Sperling, Daniel & Lipman, Timothy & Stanger, Deborah & Turrentine, Thomas & Stein, Aram, 2001. "Household Markets for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles in California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5pn7z5r9, University of California Transportation Center.
    5. Roehrich, Gilles, 2004. "Consumer innovativeness: Concepts and measurements," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 671-677, June.
    6. Johan Jansson, 2011. "Consumer eco‐innovation adoption: assessing attitudinal factors and perceived product characteristics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 192-210, March.
    7. Schwanen, Tim & Banister, David & Anable, Jillian, 2011. "Scientific research about climate change mitigation in transport: A critical review," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 993-1006.
    8. Hidrue, Michael K. & Parsons, George R. & Kempton, Willett & Gardner, Meryl P., 2011. "Willingness to pay for electric vehicles and their attributes," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 686-705, September.
    9. Karplus, Valerie J. & Paltsev, Sergey & Reilly, John M., 2010. "Prospects for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the United States and Japan: A general equilibrium analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 620-641, October.
    10. Frank M. Bass, 1969. "A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 215-227, January.
    11. Hackbarth, André & Madlener, Reinhard, 2011. "Consumer Preferences for Alternative Fuel Vehicles: A Discrete Choice Analysis," FCN Working Papers 20/2011, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN).
    12. Campbell, Amy R. & Ryley, Tim & Thring, Rob, 2012. "Identifying the early adopters of alternative fuel vehicles: A case study of Birmingham, United Kingdom," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1318-1327.
    13. Ozaki, Ritsuko & Sevastyanova, Katerina, 2011. "Going hybrid: An analysis of consumer purchase motivations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2217-2227, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali M. Saad & Mohammed Dulaimi & Sambo Lyson Zulu, 2023. "Examining the Influence of UK Public Clients’ Characteristics on Their Own Innovation-Decision towards the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Ye Li & Clemens Kool & Peter-Jan Engelen, 2020. "Analyzing the Business Case for Hydrogen-Fuel Infrastructure Investments with Endogenous Demand in The Netherlands: A Real Options Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Herberz, Mario & Hahnel, Ulf J.J. & Brosch, Tobias, 2020. "The importance of consumer motives for green mobility: A multi-modal perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 102-118.
    4. Hardman, Scott & Tal, Gil, 2021. "Discontinuance Among California’s Electric Vehicle Buyers: Why are Some Consumers Abandoning Electric Vehicles?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt11n6f4hs, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    5. Jingnan Zhang & Shichun Xu & Zhengxia He & Chengze Li & Xiaona Meng, 2022. "Factors Influencing Adoption Intention for Electric Vehicles under a Subsidy Deduction: From Different City-Level Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Larson, Paul D. & Viáfara, Jairo & Parsons, Robert V. & Elias, Arne, 2014. "Consumer attitudes about electric cars: Pricing analysis and policy implications," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 299-314.
    2. Elena Higueras-Castillo & Sebastian Molinillo & J. Andres Coca-Stefaniak & Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas, 2020. "Potential Early Adopters of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in Spain—Towards a Customer Profile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Morton, Craig & Anable, Jillian & Yeboah, Godwin & Cottrill, Caitlin, 2018. "The spatial pattern of demand in the early market for electric vehicles: Evidence from the United Kingdom," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 119-130.
    4. Krupa, Joseph S. & Rizzo, Donna M. & Eppstein, Margaret J. & Brad Lanute, D. & Gaalema, Diann E. & Lakkaraju, Kiran & Warrender, Christina E., 2014. "Analysis of a consumer survey on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 14-31.
    5. Sana Akbar Khan, 2017. "Consumer Innovation Adoption Stages and Determinants," Working Papers 03, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    6. Berliner, Rosaria, 2018. "Drivers of Change in a World of Mobility Disruption: An Overview of Long Distance Travel, Shared Mobility, and Automated Vehicles," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt6r64v86z, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    7. Petschnig, Martin & Heidenreich, Sven & Spieth, Patrick, 2014. "Innovative alternatives take action – Investigating determinants of alternative fuel vehicle adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 68-83.
    8. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein & Sherilyn Wee, 2017. "Electric vehicles revisited: a review of factors that affect adoption," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 79-93, January.
    9. Makena Coffman & Scott Allen & Sherilyn Wee, 2018. "Who are Driving Electric Vehicles? An analysis of factors that affect EV adoption in Hawaii," Working Papers 2018-3, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    10. Fanchao Liao & Eric Molin & Bert van Wee, 2017. "Consumer preferences for electric vehicles: a literature review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 252-275, May.
    11. Chandra, Minal, 2022. "Investigating the impact of policies, socio-demography and national commitments on electric-vehicle demand: Cross-country study," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Campbell, Amy R. & Ryley, Tim & Thring, Rob, 2012. "Identifying the early adopters of alternative fuel vehicles: A case study of Birmingham, United Kingdom," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1318-1327.
    13. Simona Bigerna & Silvia Micheli, 2018. "Attitudes Toward Electric Vehicles: The Case of Perugia Using a Fuzzy Set Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Plötz, Patrick & Schneider, Uta & Globisch, Joachim & Dütschke, Elisabeth, 2014. "Who will buy electric vehicles? Identifying early adopters in Germany," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 96-109.
    15. Zhang, Qi & Li, Hailong & Zhu, Lijing & Campana, Pietro Elia & Lu, Huihui & Wallin, Fredrik & Sun, Qie, 2018. "Factors influencing the economics of public charging infrastructures for EV – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 500-509.
    16. Tuğba Yeğin & Muhammad Ikram, 2022. "Analysis of Consumers’ Electric Vehicle Purchase Intentions: An Expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-27, September.
    17. Wesche, Julius P. & Plötz, Patrick & Dütschke, Elisabeth, 2016. "How to trigger mass market adoption of electric vehicles? Factors predicting interest in electric vehicles in Germany," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S07/2016, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    18. Zhaohua Wang & Xiaoyang Dong, 2016. "Determinants and policy implications of residents’ new energy vehicle purchases: the evidence from China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 82(1), pages 155-173, May.
    19. Andriosopoulos, Kostas & Bigerna, Simona & Bollino, Carlo Andrea & Micheli, Silvia, 2018. "The impact of age on Italian consumers' attitude toward alternative fuel vehicles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 299-308.
    20. Hackbarth, André & Madlener, Reinhard, 2016. "Willingness-to-pay for alternative fuel vehicle characteristics: A stated choice study for Germany," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 89-111.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:2997-:d:165410. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.