Community and Social Media Use among Early PEV Drivers

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are now being offered for sale to consumers. Contemporaneously, multi-way social interactions among individuals, groups, businesses, governments, and other actors are increasingly facilitated by communication technologies: we take this to be “social media.” Can this confluence facilitate the formation of new interest-based communities among plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) buyers? How might this be important to promoting PEVs? This paper presents the results of 28 in-depth interviews with household PEV drivers in San Diego, California. These PEV drivers show wide variation in their descriptions of who they believe PEV drivers to be, conceptualizations of a PEV, uses of social media to engage other members of the community, and socially mediated and face-to-face interactions with other PEV drivers. Better understanding of the relationship between emerging PEV markets, social media and consumer-based communities will affect the ongoing management of transitions to electric-mobility

Preliminary Results from a Field Experiment of Three Fuel Economy Feedback Designs

Energy feedback to drivers is one method to engage drivers in energy saving driving styles. In contrast to the occasional broadcasting of general driving tips, in-vehicle energy feedback gives drivers access to accurate information about their specific driving situation on an ongoing basis. The increasing prevalence of such feedback in new vehicles suggests a belief that ongoing, in-vehicle feedback is better. However, there is little reliable evidence of the effectiveness of energy feedback in real-word driving in passenger vehicles. This study begins to fill this gap. Participants are given a commercially available fuel consumption display and recording device to use in their personal vehicle for two months. For the first month the display is blank as the device records a baseline of driving and fuel consumption. For the second month the display is switched on to show drivers one of three feedback designs. This paper presents preliminary results (N=36) of a larger study that will include 150 drivers along the California-Nevada Interstate-80 corridor. Using a mixed-effects linear model, an average decrease of 13 between 2% and 8% in fuel consumption (gallons/100 miles) between the without- and with-feedback months, depending on the feedback designs, is found. Categorizing trips into types based on distance and multiple speed characteristics, there are differences in the apparent effectiveness of feedback across trip types. Most trips average approximately 5% reduction in fuel consumption. The long distance highway trip type showed only a 1% decrease in fuel consumption between the two study periods

Marketing Clean and Efficient Vehicles: A Review of Social Marketing and Social Science Approaches

In this report, the authors discuss the potential role of social marketing research and program to increase consumer demand for clean and efficient vehicles. They discuss theories and research approaches in the social marketing stream that can guide multi-year research efforts and a "transformation of the automobile market." The authors also discuss the selection of data collection techniques, such as focus groups and Internet surveys, to aid in identifying and selecting appropriate research methods

Goal Setting, Framing, and Anchoring Responses to Ecodriving Feedback

Ecodriving, defined here as the adoption of energy efficient driving styles and practices (primarily moderating acceleration, top speed, increased coasting, and improved maintenance practices), has long been recognized as a potential source of reductions in transportation energy use. Estimates of energy savings attributed to ecodriving range widely, from less than 5% to as high as 20% depending on the driving and experimental context. To explore the effects on ecodriving of interaction between drivers and in-vehicle energy feedback, a customized, interactive energy feedback interface was deployed in a field test with real-world drivers. This paper presents the results of interviews with 46 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) drivers who were given the ecodriving feedback interface for a multi-week trial including an interface off (baseline) and on (treatment) condition. This paper relies specifically on self-reports of driver motivations and behaviors to better understand what types of information motivated new ecodriving behavior; a future paper will investigate quantitative fuel consumption effects. Driver interviews at the conclusion of the study revealed that the introduction of feedback led three fourths of drivers to change driving styles to maximize on-road efficiency, at least in the short term. In addition, this study finds that the context of the feedback information, provided by a built-in goal or other contextualizing information such as a comparison value, is important for both comprehension and motivation. Personalization of the information allowed different drivers to access pertinent information, increasing the motivational value of the information. Instantaneous performance feedback such as real-time energy economy or power is used primarily for experimentation and learning of new ecodriving behaviors, whereas average performance feedback is used primarily for goal-setting and goal achievement. In addition, the direct comparison of personalized driver goals and average performance created a game-like experience that encouraged high achievement. Finally, the driver interviews revealed that feedback frames driving as a time to act in an efficient manner

Interpersonal Influence and Pro-Societal Consumption: A Review of Diffusion, Conformity, Dissemination, Translation and Reflexivity

Understanding consumption behavior will facilitate the successful deployment of new pro-societal products and behaviors. Interpersonal influence is thought to play an important role in the successive adoption of pro-societal products and behaviors within groups across time, but processes of influence are poorly understood. This paper begins by presenting a typology for new products according functional, symbolic and pro-societal attributes. Five perspectives on interpersonal influence and pro-societal consumption behavior are identified and summarized. Contagion focuses on the effect of functional information flowing among people or groups. Conformity focuses on individual thresholds and motivations to mimic others. Dissemination is the intentional diffusion of information by a core group of motivated individuals. Translation is the tendency for various social groups to negotiate interpretations and valuations of the technology. Finally, reflexivity is a theoretical framework that explains the motivations of individuals seeking to establish lifestyle practices consistent with their self concept in an uncertain modern world. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective are discussed

Households’ Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Recharging Behavior: Observed variation in households’ use of a 5kWh blended PHEV-conversion

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which run on both electricity from the grid and gasoline, are touted as providing some of the societal and environmental benefits of electric vehicles for a large portion of motorists’ daily travel, while also acting as a transitional technology toward fully electric vehicles. To test analysts’ assumptions about how PHEV users will recharge their vehicles, the observed recharging behaviors of forty households that participated in a PHEV demonstration in Northern California are reported. Recharging behavior is summarized across all households’ last week of their four-week PHEV trial period with regards to the time-of-day, frequency of plugging-in, and electricity demand to recharge the vehicles. While the means of the frequency distribution of plug-in events among demonstration households is similar to prior recharging assumptions made by analysts, the distributions are not symmetrical about the mean and there exists a large variation in both the average number of times households plugged-in per day and the average energy per plug-in event. Further, there is no strong correspondence between the number of daily plug-in events and total daily electricity demand. The range of behaviors reported here support the contention that the success of PHEVs in meeting energy and emissions goals relies on PHEV users’ recharging and driving behavior as much or more as on PHEV designs

Symbolism In Early Markets For Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This study explores the symbolic meanings for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) being appropriated and communicated by the vehicles’ owners. As symbolic meanings are shown to be important to HEV purchase and use, understanding both the meanings and the social processes in the construction of these meanings is essential for policy makers and others hoping to promote “green” vehicles. HEVs embody new combinations of meanings in the vehicle market. Many observers who fail to recognize this struggle to explain why some people want HEVs. They may characterize HEV buyers as naïve about calculating payback on fuel economy, or call HEVs “a badge of honor” or status symbol. This research breaks through such simplistic categorizations. Through the telling and analysis of HEV buyers’ own stories this research takes a robust approach to understanding the creation and spread of new meanings and development of markets. Household buyers of the first generation of HEVs told these stories in semi-structured home interviews. Their stories are analyzed by drawing upon semiotics to explore the formation and structure of meanings. In particular, the study explores how widely recognized social (denotative) meanings are connected to more personal (connotative) meanings

Cognitive Mechanisms of Behavior Change in the Case of In-Vehicle Fuel Economy Feedback

This paper presents results from a year-long study on driver feedback, driver attitudes, and the adoption of ecodriving behaviors. Narrowly defined, ecodriving represents only the set of behaviors that a driver can use to minimize the energy use of a trip after the trip has begun. The general ecodriving behaviors are moderating acceleration, top speed, and braking. Ecodriving has long been recognized as a potential source of reductions in transportation energy use, with reduction estimates ranging widely from less than 5% to over 20% depending on context. In-vehicle feedback is one way to motivate ecodriving by connecting drivers with salient information suited to their personal goals. Although many studies have tested unique feedback designs, little research has been conducted into the cognitive precursors to driver behavior change that may underlie the adoption or rejection of ecodriving practices, and therefore underlie the effectiveness of any feedback design. This study examines both precursor cognitive factors and driver behavior changes with the introduction of energy feedback, using a framework hypothesizing that attitudes, social norms, perceived control, and goals influence behavior and behavior change. The study finds that the introduction of a feedback interface can both activate these cognitive factors and result in behavior change. Furthermore, the study finds that there was an overall 4.4% reduction in fuel consumption due entirely to one group that showed increases in their knowledge of fuel economy and reported high levels of technical proficiency during the experiment. The second group made no improvement and may have been confused by the feedback. In addition, statistically significant relationships are found in the effective group between the magnitude of cognitive change and the magnitude of behavior change – supporting the theoretical framework. Finally, the baseline (prefeedback) performance of the drivers was an important model factor, indicating that drivers that already use highly efficient styles do not benefit much from feedback

State of the Plug-in Electric Vehicle Market: Report I

This is the first of two reports that gauges the extent to which car-owning households in California have considered purchasing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) (collectively, ZEVs). It explores which households have or have not considered ZEVs and, in those differences, seeks suggestions for how to promote greater consideration across an increased number and broader variety of households. The analysis is based on an on-line survey of car-owning households in California conducted in February 2017; the sample size was n = 1,681. The primary measure is the extent to which respondents have already considered a ZEV for their household: 4-of-5 car-owning households in California had given either no or nearly no consideration to ZEVs. Combined, less than 10 percent had given the highest two levels of consideration; active shopping or ownership. Other measures of awareness, name recognition, incentive knowledge, and driving experience were commensurately low. Relying on socio-economic and demographic variables to segment markets is unlikely to succeed. Variables describing respondents\u2019 decision contexts and resources are important, especially whether respondents can reliably access electricity at a home parking location. General attitudes regarding air quality, the relative public health and environmental effects of electricity vs. gasoline, and experience with HEVs add further explanatory power. Ultimately though, variables specific to ZEVs are more strongly associated with ZEV consideration: interest in ZEV technology; familiarity with ZEVs including name recognition, driving experience, and recognizing and recalling PEV charging, assessments of ZEV charging/fueling duration, driving range, purchase price, safety and reliability; and, whether people know a ZEV owner. The modeling done here is of differences between people at one point in time not of changes to people over time. Still, the suggestion is that to increase ZEV market growth it is essential to increase peoples\u2019 awareness and knowledge, providing them with the basis for informed assessments, and thus prompt serious consideration of ZEVs for their households. It should not be expected that all the people who have so far paid no or little attention will be quickly converted to ZEV shoppers and owners. However, there seems little prospect to grow the ZEV market unless the vast majority of car-owning households in California can be engaged in the transition to electric-drive

State of the Plug-In Electric Vehicle Market: Report II

This is the second of two reports gauging the extent to which car-owning households in California have considered purchasing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles collectively, zero emission vehicles. It seeks insights into how to promote greater consideration across an increased number and broader variety of households. The analysis is based on two on-line surveys of car-owning households in California