US drivers could use more EV cost-benefit education
#1
11-14-2013, 07:00 PM
US drivers could use more EV cost-benefit education
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, USA
Maybe the problem with electric vehicles isn't with the cars themselves but with the shoppers. Or potential shoppers. Or the not-so-potential shoppers.
That's the message from a new survey from Indiana University and University of Kansas researchers, who found that US car shoppers "know little about the tax incentives and other financial benefits of owning plug-in electric vehicles." The numbers are kind of overwhelming: 95 percent of the survey respondents (more than 2,000 drivers in 21 US cities) said they did not know about state and local EV subsidies or other incentives (like HOV lane access). The press release doesn't say, but since the national $7,500 tax credit isn't mentioned in that list, we assume more than five percent of drivers knew about that.
On the more-complicated-to-understand front, the researchers found that three quarters of the drivers surveyed were "uninformed about the savings in fuel and maintenance costs that all PEVs are expected to generate compared to gasoline vehicles." As John Graham, one of the study's co-authors, said in a statement, "It is well established that current mainstream consumer interest in these vehicles is low. For [EV] sales to increase, consumers need to be better informed about the financial incentives and advantages of owning an alternatively fueled car." The study, "Perception and reality: Public knowledge of plug-in electric vehicles in 21 U.S. cities," was published in Energy Policy.
But here's the thing: the data was collected in October 2011, before the two main vanguard plug-in vehicles - the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt - even went on sale. If there was ever a study in need of an updated data set, this is the one. The last two years have been kind of busy on the EV front, after all.Continue reading US drivers could use more EV cost-benefit education
US drivers could use more EV cost-benefit education originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Maybe the problem with electric vehicles isn't with the cars themselves but with the shoppers. Or potential shoppers. Or the not-so-potential shoppers.
That's the message from a new survey from Indiana University and University of Kansas researchers, who found that US car shoppers "know little about the tax incentives and other financial benefits of owning plug-in electric vehicles." The numbers are kind of overwhelming: 95 percent of the survey respondents (more than 2,000 drivers in 21 US cities) said they did not know about state and local EV subsidies or other incentives (like HOV lane access). The press release doesn't say, but since the national $7,500 tax credit isn't mentioned in that list, we assume more than five percent of drivers knew about that.
On the more-complicated-to-understand front, the researchers found that three quarters of the drivers surveyed were "uninformed about the savings in fuel and maintenance costs that all PEVs are expected to generate compared to gasoline vehicles." As John Graham, one of the study's co-authors, said in a statement, "It is well established that current mainstream consumer interest in these vehicles is low. For [EV] sales to increase, consumers need to be better informed about the financial incentives and advantages of owning an alternatively fueled car." The study, "Perception and reality: Public knowledge of plug-in electric vehicles in 21 U.S. cities," was published in Energy Policy.
But here's the thing: the data was collected in October 2011, before the two main vanguard plug-in vehicles - the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt - even went on sale. If there was ever a study in need of an updated data set, this is the one. The last two years have been kind of busy on the EV front, after all.Continue reading US drivers could use more EV cost-benefit education
US drivers could use more EV cost-benefit education originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
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