Consumer Awareness of Plug-in Electric Vehicles: A Study of Sacramento

California has ambitious goals for transitioning to cleaner vehicles. In 2012, California set a target of 1.5 million zeroemission vehicles (ZEVs) on the road by 2025 and, in 2018, set a target of 5 million ZEVs on the road by 2030. However, Californians are largely unaware of the state’s efforts to dramatically increase ZEV adoption. From 2014 to 2017, consumer awareness, knowledge, and purchase considerations of ZEVs in California did not change. This is despite significant state investments in ZEV purchase incentives, a doubling of charging stations and vehicle models for sale, and an increase in the ZEV market share from 3.3% of new car sales in 2014 to 5% in 2017. Achieving California’s ambitious ZEV targets will require a substantial increase in the number of consumers who go through the sequential stages of adoption. First, consumers must be aware the vehicles exist; then they need to become more knowledgeable of the pros and cons of the vehicles, including, but not limited to, available incentives (both monetary and non-monetary) and the availability of charging infrastructure. They will then consider purchasing a ZEV by weighing the pros and cons before finally making a decision.