Possibilities and challenges for expanding the electric vehicle adoption: A case study of Swedish consumers’ perception of electric vehicles

Sammanfattning: Electric cars are by many considered a sustainable solution to the ever-growing demand for road vehicles and fuel. The transportation sector is responsible for almost a third of the total greenhouse gas emissions globally and approximately 80% of these emissions can be attributed to road vehicles. Thus, there is an urgent need for a shift away from fossil fuels in the sector. While the consumer interest for electric cars has certainly increased in the past few years, the shift to electric vehicles is not occurring fast enough. This thesis deals with the process of consumer adoption of new technologies and aims to investigate the possibilities and challenges for expanding the consumer adoption of electric vehicles in Sweden, mainly through the lens of the diffusion of innovation-theory. The findings of this qualitative case study of Swedish consumers within the automotive sector suggest that the main possibilities for expanding the electric vehicle adoption are the consumers ́ generally positive perception of beneficial environmental effects, relatively cheaper fuel and social status, related to electric vehicles. The main challenges involve negative perceptions of the driving range, price, infrastructure, complexity, limited opportunities to test and observe the electric car and intangible results. This study employs a semi-structured interview technique, and analyses the perspectives of different consumer groups with different consumer behavior and above all, different tendencies to adopt to new innovations, ideas or technologies. The intention is, by doing so, to achieve a sufficient representation of the consumers in the automotive sector within the limitations of the thesis. One of the most important conclusions of the findings is that in order to exploit the possibilities distinguished in this study, it is vital that the complementaries to the innovation (electric car), such as the related infrastructure, develop at a similar rate as the actual innovation in order to prevent bottleneck effects. If this development fails, the rate of adoption will likely stagnate. Furthermore, the findings suggest that there is a substantial lack of sufficient information about electric vehicles among mainstream consumers, causing uncertainty among these individuals. The policy implications of the findings are thus related to a need for better distribution of information and decisions for preventing bottleneck effects caused by the underdeveloped infrastructure surrounding electric vehicles.