Abstract:

Governments around the world are implementing policies to promote electric vehicles to reduce dependence on oil, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and improve air quality. This paper reviews global practices on electric vehicle consumer awareness and outreach activities in order to explore actions that governments can take to foster growth of the market and understand how to better implement such campaigns. It summarizes practices in consumer education, awareness, and outreach regarding electric vehicles. The authors review literature on the importance of consumer awareness and identify exemplary actions in leading electric vehicle markets. Based on the review, they selected five case studies for additional discussion to help better understand the key elements of successful comprehensive consumer awareness campaigns. This study concludes with the following findings on electric vehicle consumer awareness activities, i.e. (1) Action to increase consumer awareness is a key part of supporting the growth in the early electric vehicle market. (2) Stakeholders would ideally collaborate to leverage strengths and effectively utilize limited resources on electric vehicle awareness campaigns (3) Sustained programs that utilize a broad range of outreach and awareness actions are more likely to capture a wider audience of prospective electric vehicle consumers. (4)Local context and resources can be important in assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of an electric vehicle consumer awareness program.