Consumers' preferences for electric vehicles: The role of status and reputation

This paper provides insight into motivational reasons for consumers' preferences for Electric Vehicles (EVs) assuming equal and different prices between EVs and traditional vehicles. Referring to consumer behavior, it shows that reputation-driven consumers prefer EVs only when the purchase price is more expensive than that of other vehicles, thus suggesting that true environmental concern is attenuated by reputation motives; and that the desirability of EVs as sustainable products only increases if prices are more expensive. It provides insights into the influence of sociodemographic variables, car attributes and external environmental factors. The study offers an empirical approach with a sample set of more than 2.000 responses. Different logit models are estimated to explore the factors influencing the preference for an EV. It is found that age, being male, having children, education, living in urban areas, and previous experience positively influence EV adoption. Better infrastructure and information availability help to promote EVs.