Laypeople’s perspectives on electromobility: A focus group study

Abstract

Although many electric cars are readily available on the market and the charging infrastructure is expanded, the majority of people is still reluctant to buy and use an electric car. It is assumed that underlying motives and mental models play decisive roles for the acceptance. To gain insights into laypeople’s concepts concerning electromobility, three focus group studies on perceived benefits and barriers with a total of 24 participants were conducted in which the participants discussed their perceived benefits and barriers of electric mobility. It was found that while participants’ perceived benefits referred almost exclusively to environmental issues, the barriers concerned multiple thematic areas such as costs, infrastructure, security of the technology, and practicability. Overall, it has become obvious that many misconceptions and prejudices against electromobility and electric cars still exist which can only be overcome by adequate information and communication concepts.