A Comparative Study Of Public Policy Influence On Electric Vehicle Buying Intentions In Germany And China

Rising greenhouse gas emissions and sever inner city pollution have prompted governments to introduce public policies in order to help lower-than-expected electric vehicle sales.Despite growing adoption of electric cars their overall share is still too small to have a noticeable impact.The literature concerning public policy in the context of a cross country comparison of electric vehicle adoption intentions is scant.This paper is addressing this by undertaking a consumer survey in Germany and China where participants rated their electric vehicle purchase likelihood before and after evaluating seven public policies that covered demand and supply sides.The survey design and the formulation of the hypotheses were informed by findings from public policy reviews of both countries and the theory of innovation diffusion by Everett Rogers.The results showed substantial differences in some areas as well as similarities in others for German and Chinese participants.Rating four out of the seven policies(battery change subsidy,cash premium,government guidelines for infrastructure and parking privileges in city centres)with a lower influence score was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of purchasing an electric vehicle.Findings also indicated strong associations between electric vehicle policy knowledge,innovativeness,the importance of using environmentally friendly transportation as well as having experience with electric vehicles and participant’s likelihood of purchasing an electric vehicle.While there was a positive shift in before and after policy ratings for electric vehicle purchase likelihood,this link could not be supported by the statistical data analysis.However,the overall evaluation of study outcomes gave an inclination as to what direction both countries’ governments should take concerning their public policies.