Sustainable Mobility : A quantitative study on the influence of user attitudes and risk perceptions on the consumer's intention to purchase electric vehicles.

Sammanfattning: In the last decade the automobile industry has invested heavily in the developments of better vehicles, in regards to performance, emissions and also durability. The latest development has been the introduction of electric vehicles into the markets. The electric vehicles are touted as being better for the environment in terms of emissions and even low noise production. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)calls for ensuring that everyone has access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy. This goal is often geared towards moving the energy production to more renewable sources, making it highly relevant to electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are still fairly new in the market, so it’s worth exploring what the purchase intention looks like and how the interacting environmental factors contribute to the overall intention. This study aims to investigate consumer’s purchase intention in regards to electric vehicles and the influences that user beliefs, attitudes and risk perceptions have on the consumer’s final decision. The study also seeks to find out how the environmental risk aspects associated with the electric vehicles closely tie into the overall purchase intention. The method of collecting data was through a web-based survey where the respondents filled out different sections, the results of the survey were then studied and presented using quantitative analysis methods. The results of this study are presented with the help of previous research and theoretical frameworks that are relevant to the study topic. The study concluded that the purchase intention for electric vehicles was pretty high and that the factors influencing the intentions had more to do with personal gains or savings rather than an overall concern for the environment. The study also shows how subtly our actions can be influenced by behavioural social norms around us, this is shown in the fact that the perceived initial motivation behind the purchase intention of electric vehicles is the concern for the environment but on a deeper level it proves to be the result of social action norms.