Predictors of intention to buy a battery electric vehicle among conventional car drivers

Despite rapid increase of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in many countries, there are still concerns related to technology, usability and safety aspects of BEVs. The present study examines the role of perceived accident risk, knowledge, perceived car attributes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, together with demographic variables, on intention to buy a BEV among conventional car drivers. A web-survey is used to collect data from 205 conventional car drivers (76.5% male) living in different parts of Norway. A regression analysis is conducted to investigate the predictive role of the measured constructs for the intention to buy a BEV. Results show that environmental-economic attributes of BEVs, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control are positively related to the intention. Meanwhile, being male is negatively related to the intention. Neither perceived accident risk nor the knowledge about BEVs has a direct effect on the intention. However, further mediation analysis shows that both perceived accident risk and knowledge have an indirect effect on the intention through the perceived attributes of BEVs. Implications of the results for interventions aiming to increase BEV adoption are discussed. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.