Household factors and adopting intention of battery electric vehicles: a multi-group structural equation model analysis among consumers in Jiangsu Province, China

The scope of this study was to analyze whether the relationships among past experience, perceived return, perceived risk, and intention to adopt battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are different because of household factors. Analysis was conducted by a multi-group structural equation model, and data were taken from 940 consumers in six cities in Jiangsu Province. Results show that the adopting intention is positively affected by perceived return, but negatively affected by perceived risk; past experience positively affects perceived return and adopting intention, but negatively affects perceived risk. Importantly, some of the above effects differ in strength for consumers in households characterized by different population, type of location, income, vehicle ownership, and accessibility to plug-in vehicles at home. Finally, implications for how these results can be applied to increase the adopting intention of BEVs are discussed.