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Those who are environmentally friendly are more likely to buy electric cars, but look less at emissions
For the study, 1100 citizens in Germany were surveyed, representing a cross-section of the population. They were given the opportunity to hypothetically choose between three types of electric vehicles and a conventional vehicle, i.e., one powered by gasoline or diesel. The vehicles were characterized by various attributes such as purchase price or fuel cost. "With regard toCO2 emissions, we investigated emissions during vehicle production in addition to the frequently considered emissions during vehicle use," said Prof. Dr. Andreas Ziegler, Department of Empirical Economic Research. Together with Michaela V. Gerhardt and Elke D. Kanberger, Ziegler has currently presented the study as a discussion paper in the MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics.
Surprisingly, environmental attitudes, i.e., environmental awareness and identification with ecologically oriented policies, do not have a significant impact on the purchase of cars with lowerCO2 emissions, both in the use of the vehicles and in their production - according to a conclusion of the study. Instead, more environmentally conscious people tend to buy electric vehicles. Obviously, then, it is primarily the abandonment of conventional vehicles that is seen as a major contribution to climate protection.
The purchase of electric vehicles is still very unpopular in Germany overall. According to the empirical results, citizens are on average willing to spend almost 14,000 euros more for a conventional vehicle than for a purely electric vehicle, which is identical in terms of the other attributes. Accordingly, subsidies of up to 9000 euros at the time of the survey and currently up to 6750 euros seem too low to persuade many prospective buyers to switch to electric vehicles. "A strong or even sole focus on subsidies may therefore not be a successful transport, environmental and climate policy strategy to strongly increase the demand for electric and especially pure electric vehicles," the authors of the study said. For the transition to electromobility, it is therefore suggested to address in particular the "reduction of known barriers such as limited charging availability or long charging times." Furthermore, "in the long term, it may be necessary to gradually phase out conventional vehicles with combustion engines."
The study "The relevance of life-cycle CO2 emissions for vehicle purchase decisions: A stated choice experiment for Germany" can be accessed at:
The article can be found here.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Ziegler
Department of Empirical Economics
Tel.: 0561 804-3038
E-mail: andreas.ziegler[at]uni-kassel[dot]de