Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe

Despite a potentially revolutionary shift towards electric mobility in the passenger vehicle market, the academic and policymaking communities remain wedded to a techno-economic paradigm that may not fully appreciate deeper social and geographic elements of a transition to electric vehicles. In this paper, based primarily on bivariate statistical analysis as well as a hierarchical regression analysis of a survey distributed to >5000 respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, we analyze how perceptions and attitudes towards electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technologies differ by income, political affiliation, and geography. Although our findings confirm EV ownership and mobility patterns in general are related to income—those with higher incomes both own more EVs and drive more generally—they also confirm that interest in EVs is not so strongly related. Lower income groups seem to ask less from their cars, thus potentially opening up a market for cheaper low-range alternates. Political orientation is correlated to car and EV ownership, with those on the “left” more interested yet those on the “right” more able and willing to buy expensive cars. Moreover, we see variation in preferences across urban and rural subcategories, and our findings strongly suggest that EVs need not be promoted only for city or suburban areas. When controlling for variables, a multilevel regression analysis does not change the overall thrust of these associations

Promoting Vehicle to Grid (V2G) in the Nordic region: Expert advice on policy mechanisms for accelerated diffusion

Vehicle to Grid (V2G) holds the promise of cheap, flexible, and fast-responding storage through the use of electric vehicle batteries. Unfortunately, infrastruc.ture, battery degradation and consumer awareness are only some of the challenges to a faster development of this technology. This paper offers a qualitative comparative analysis that draws on a subsample of 227 semi-structured interviews on electric vehicles with both transportation and electricity experts from 201 institutions and 17 cities within the Nordic region to discuss the reasoning and arguments behind V2G incentives and policy mechanisms. A frequency analysis of the most coded V2G responses favours an update of the electricity market regulation – in particular in relation to electricity taxation and aggregator markets – and support for pilot projects. However, the analysis overall implies that V2G, in contrast to EVs, is a technology for the market and by the market. One that will develop on its own over time. More in-depth, our analysis shows the debates around V2G and how its perspective differs per country, pending available frequency capacity and flexible production (hydro power). The paper calls for a further development of flexible electricity markets, support for pilot projects, and attention to information and planning

The demographics of decarbonizing transport: The influence of gender, education, occupation, age, and household size on electric mobility preferences in the Nordic region

Many researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders have explored and supported efforts to transition towards more sustainable forms of low-carbon mobility. Often, discussion will flow from a narrow view of consumer perceptions surrounding passenger vehicles—presuming that users act in rationalist, instrumental, and predictable patterns. In this paper, we hold that a better understanding of the social and demographic perceptions of electric vehicles (compared to other forms of mobility, including conventional cars) is needed. We provide a comparative and mixed methods assessment of the demographics of electric mobility and stated preferences for electric vehicles, drawing primarily on a survey distributed to more than 5000 respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. We examine how gender influences preferences; how experience in the form of education and occupation shape preferences; and how aging and household size impact preferences. In doing so we hope to reveal the more complex social dynamics behind how potential adopters consider and calculate various aspects of conventional mobility, electric mobility, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems. In particular, our results suggest that predominantly men, those with higher levels of education in full time employment, especially with occupations in civil society or academia, and below middle age (30–45), are the most likely to buy them. However, our analysis also reveals other market segments where electric vehicles may take root, e.g. among higher income females and retirees/pensioners. Moreover, few respondents were orientated towards V2G, independent of their demographic attributes. Our empirical results can inform ongoing discussions about energy and transport policy, the drivers of environmental change, and deliberations over sustainability transitions

Leveraging user-based innovation in vehicle-to-X and vehicle-to-grid adoption: a Nordic case study

While vehicle-to-grid technology could provide substantial benefits to consumers and society, its adoption has been confined to a niche and relatively stagnant. In this article, we study the role of user-based innovations in increasing the acceptance and adoption of niche technologies such as vehicle-to-grid. To do so, we connect three interrelated concepts—tinkering, testing and tacit knowledge—and then theorize how they interact in three theories—diffusion of innovation, social construction of technology, and the multi-level perspective. Drawing from a rich set of original data, we then apply the theorization of user-based innovation to the adoption of vehicle-to-grid in the Nordic region, by focusing on how users can influence an emerging state-of-the-art innovation, vehicle-to-X. We find that the three concepts of tinkering, testing, and tacit knowledge should be encouraged in order to accelerate and stabilize the adoption of vehicle-to-grid. We conclude the study by examining how the theorization of tinkering may benefit the understanding of other technologies’ diffusion pathways and recommend directions for future research

Culture, conformity, and carbon? A multi-country analysis of heating and cooling practices in office buildings

This study investigates human-building interaction in office spaces across multiple countries including Brazil, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the United States, and Taiwan. We analyze social-psychological, contextual, and demographic factors to explain cross-country differences in adaptive thermal actions (i.e. cooling and heating behaviors) and conformity to the norms of sharing indoor environmental control features, an indicator of energy consumption. Specifically, personal adjustments such as putting on extra clothes are generally preferred over technological solutions such as adjusting thermostats in reaction to thermal discomfort. Social-psychological factors including attitudes, perceived behavioral control, injunctive norms, and perceived impact of indoor environmental quality on work productivity influence occupants’ intention to conform to the norms of sharing environmental control features. Lastly, accessibility to environmental control features, office type, gender, and age are also important factors. These findings demonstrate the roles of social-psychological and certain contextual factors in occupants’ interactions with building design as well as their behavior of sharing environmental control features, both of which significantly influence building energy consumption, and thus, broader decarbonization