Research On Impact Of Policy Measures On Consumer Intention To Adopt Electric Vehicles:An Extended Examination Of Theory Of Planned Behavior

Electrification of transport industry in China presents several new prospects and solutions to fulfill the requirements,which are necessary to encounter increasing issues of energy security,air quality,and sustainable energy systems.Further improvements in vehicle technologies are identified as progressing approach to lower the dependence on fossil fuels.Since 2009,the Chinese government is paying significant attention in increasing the market penetration and consumer adoption of EVs through numerous demonstration programs/plans with attractive transportation policies.Subsequently,the massive deployment of electric vehicles(EVs)transforms the automotive industry of China into a subsidy based market of EVs.In this study,the key factors included in EV policies are examined,which can enhance consumer intention to adopt EVs.The inspiration and awareness of consumers regarding the purchase intention to accept EVs on massive scale substantially depends on the attractive measures involved in subsidized EV policies formulated by the Chinese government.This study explores that by what means the inspiration and awareness regarding EV policies greatly influence the consumer purchasing intention through the mechanism of Theory of Planned behavior(TPB).Impact assessment of EV policies is accomplished by implementing an extended and improved version of TPB.A survey analysis of 314 respondents is performed in Shanghai city,which is further evaluated by operationalizing the TPB mechanism in structural equation modelling(SEM)to assess the aspects of EV policies on consumer adoption.In particular,the construct items of TPB including attitude,subjective norm(SN),and perceived behavioral control(PBC)are investigated in detail to present their joint impact on purchasing intention of consumers,which further have a large effect on the adoption of EVs.The confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)and structural equation modelling are performed in AMOS for the assessment of survey findings.The results obtained from the survey analysis after evaluating it through SEM reveal that financial and preferential EV policies have a considerable impact towards shaping the attitude of consumers.Furthermore,after analyzing the response of the respondents in Shanghai city,it is observed that financial and preferential policies are significantly related to adoption intention of EVs.However,for Shanghainese the preferential policies are more positively associated with consumer purchase intention in comparison with financial policies.Consequently,preferential policies are playing a crucial role in controlling the adoption intention of EVs.The outcomes can support policy makers by suggesting different possibilities to make improvements in EV policy mechanism for large-scale deployment of EVs as well as widespread EV consumer adoption.It is foreseen that the work presented in this paper would be a useful addition and a valuable source of information for researchers studying the subsidized EV policy mechanism through theory of planned behavior.