Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) has long stressed the importance of investing in EV awareness-raising. After all, as pointed out in AEE’s EV policy brief for regulators, “…much of the evolution of transportation will depend on the choices of consumers…”. Yet even in California, home to leading EV manufacturer Tesla – and as recently as March 2019 – only 1/3 of respondents can correctly name a single battery EV model.
Anne Arquit Niederberger, Enervee’s Vice President of Market Development, joined AEE’s Lisa Frantzis and panelists from Evergy, Southern California Edison and EZ-EV to share insights and results from Enervee Cars deployments across the country.
While utility panelists underscored the need for a comprehensive approach to move car shoppers from awareness through interest, desire and, ultimately, an EV purchase, Anne honed in on the task of converting conventional car shoppers to EV buyers.
Her presentation cited prior Enervee research showing that Americans overwhelmingly think it is important to buy cars that are clean and economical to drive, want their utility to do more to help them understand EV benefits and would find an online tool to compare different car types (gasoline, hybrid, electric) in terms of total cost of ownership helpful. This research informed the design of Enervee Cars, an online choice engine platform designed to nudge in-market car shoppers towards EV purchases.
Anne then presented recent results from Enervee Cars deployments across the county, from California to New York, Ohio and Michigan.
“If we want to grow the EV market fast, we have to appeal to internal combustion engine vehicle shoppers”, said Anne Arquit Niederberger, who concluded by pointing out that “ratings of the Enervee Cars platform by EV buyers who were originally in the market to buy a conventional gasoline vehicle were off the charts”.
Click here to view the webinar and download the presentation deck.