The Way You Do Things You Do – Fueling or Charging Cars as Dealing with Refillable Resources

Abstract

The charging network is currently still perceived as a barrier to e-vehicle adoption, even though the vehicles could contribute to climate protection. To plan the necessary mobility infrastructure according to demand, a profound knowledge of car charging and refueling in general is of crucial importance. For a holistic picture, the present paper compares the refueling and charging behavior for cars with the replenishment of household goods and the recharging of smartphones. It was found that while refill behavior was quite similar across all contexts, there were some minor differences. Thus, in the household context, higher fill levels were already regarded as a critical residual quantity and repurchased earlier. In addition, household supplies tend to be replenished every now and then, while smartphone and car contexts are dominated by “all or nothing” strategies. Conditions directly related to fill level typically trigger refills rather than financial or habitual reasons. Regarding user factors, weak effects were found in particular for the personal need for structure, reliability, impulsivity, and willingness to take risks. Factors such as household size, the number of children in the household, or the distance to the nearest supermarket were also related to filling levels perceived as critical and thus triggering refilling processes.