Below is one chapter of our latest electric car driver report, Electric Car Drivers: Demands, Desires & Dreams.
What electric car incentives stimulate the most electric car purchases? That’s up for debate, but asking people who actually bought electric cars is an interesting way to ponder the question.
We gave respondents 5 EV incentive options to choose from. No option very obviously and dramatically ran away with the gold medal. The results show that people strongly like straight cash rebates ($3,000 in this hypothetical case) and the promise of free public charging. However, there was far more diversity than expected.
Nearly 20% of Tesla drivers in North America chose access to HOV and/or bus lanes. Over 20% of Tesla drivers in Europe preferred either free parking in public places or access to HOV and/or bus lanes. Plug-in hybrid drivers loved the idea of a free home charging system.
Nearly 15% of non-Tesla electric car drivers in North America wanted access to HOV and/or bus lanes, but not that many cared for free public parking. On the flip side, nearly 20% of non-Tesla electric car drivers in Europe favored free public parking while few cared about access to HOV and/or bus lanes.
The core message here is that different people have different preferences, needs, and desires. That means that a wide variety of EV incentives is perhaps the most effective way to stimulate more electric car sales. There’s no perfect incentive that will entice everyone. That said, if there is a top incentive to start with, it appears that incentive should be a healthy cash incentive. Money talks. We only used a $3,000 rebate as a cash incentive here. A higher amount of $5,000 or up would probably run away with the championship title.
Compare these results to last year’s report: “Top EV Incentives (CleanTechnica Electric Car Driver Report).”
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