Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Electric Vehicles

Due to the recent global trend toward stricter restrictions on both greenhouse gases emission and energy consumption, there is an emerging attention on electric vehicles (EVs). It is anticipated that proliferation of EV will be expanded rapidly in the near future. Accordingly, there is a need to analyze the consumer preferences for the EVs as the basic data for developing the relevant industries´ strategies in the newly emerging market of EVs or establishing the government policies to popularize EVs. This paper analyzes the consumer preferences for the EV on the basis of the stated preference data from consumers in Korea. A conjoint method and a mixed logit model using the Bayesian approach were used to estimate the preferences of consumers. The stated preference data of the conjoint method is collected through a face-to-face survey conducted in June 2009. The consumer preferences on the key attributes that affect the choices of EV are estimated by a mixed logit model. Marginal willingness to pay is calculated to quantitatively analyze the consumer preferences on the key attributes. The results of this paper show that the consumers have greater preference for EV with swappable battery rather than unswappable battery, and for lump-sum payment rather than installment of the subsidies.