Changing attitudes towards e-mobility by actively elaborating fast-charging technology

Since electromobility (e-mobility) is a large field of innovation, it is crucial to examine new developments with potential users in mind. Therefore, we investigated the impact that new fast-charging technologies for electric vehicles (EV) have on ordinary people's assessment about the future prospects of e-mobility which is an important prerequisite for increased attitudes towards e-mobility in general. First we let participants perform a typical charging process, where they were either introduced to the slower-operating, alternating current (AC) system or the fast-operating direct current (DC) system. In a second experiment we used the same procedure but instead of letting participants actively perform the charging process, they were only given written information about these charging technologies. Results show that participants' future estimation about EVs only rises when they actively charge an EV in the fast DC condition but not in the AC condition. General attitudes towards EVs increase independently of the AC or DC condition. None of these effects could be seen without active hands-on experience (second experiment). These indications imply the value of investing in fast-charging systems to induce more favorable judgments regarding the future prospect of EVs. The importance of letting people actively take part in the way e-mobility works will be discussed regarding the potentially improvement of participants' attitudes towards e-mobility. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.