Abstract:

Battery electric vehicles (BEV) are essential in most countries’ transition towards an efficient, cleaner, and low-carbon transport system. BEV technology has been making rapid progress, but low market uptake poses major challenges for governments and industry. Based on the PRISMA framework (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), the authors assessed 94 studies published in the era of BEVs becoming visible market products between 2010 and 2019. The major purpose is to learn as much as possible about consumer/citizen views and behaviour around BEVs. Contrary to popular belief, few research is designed to uncover causal impacts of facilitators and impediments in this domain, and findings on generally assumed major factors are shockingly diverse and context-dependent. The authors conclude that there is still a shortage of solid research on the factors that encourage BEV adoption and future ownership. Moreover, and particularly alarming from a scientific viewpoint, many existing studies cannot be replicated because the respective data is unavailable, neither publicly accessible nor on request. Given the saliency of the issue, the main implication of the assessment is that a concerted, internationally coordinated effort in this area is needed, based on pre-registration of study designs and full accessibility of replication data.