What drives the adoption of electric four-wheelers in India? An investigation of the reasons for and against

Abstract

In spite of many countries pushing for electrification of their mobilities by incentivising buyers and manufacturers, penetration rates of electric vehicles are still very less and hence, the electric vehicles represent only a minor proportion of aggregate motorised vehicles. Thus, for fruitful penetration of electric vehicles in developing economies such as India, this study analyses the factors affecting the adoption behaviour of electric vehicles using novel first and second order structural equation models developed based on a modified framework from the behavioural reasoning theory and the valence framework. Unlike the previous studies where the focus has been on certain target groups, this study uses data collected from 1243 “potential electric car buyers” of Bengaluru, India to study the influence of socio-demographic variables and certain latent factors viz. environmental enthusiasm, social values, technological enthusiasm, monetary benefits, environmental benefits, lack of infrastructural readiness, perceived fee, and perceived risks on consumers’ intention to adopt electric four-wheelers. The results reveal environmental enthusiasm, social image, technological enthusiasm, monetary benefits, and environmental benefits to have significant positive impact on electric vehicle adoption intention while perceived fee, perceived risks, and the lack of infrastructural readiness are found to hinder the adoption of electric vehicles. Moreover, socio-demographic variables are also found to be significant determinants of electric vehicle adoption behaviour. This study provides some very important implications for policy and decision makers that can help in widespread adoption of electric vehicles.