A CONTEMPORARY STUDY ON CONSUMER PROSPECTS OF E-MOBILITY HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN INDIA: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ymb3rz54Keywords:
Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Consumer Purchase Intention, Adoption Barriers, Environmental Awareness, Policy Incentives, Sustainable Mobility, IndiaAbstract
Indian automotive industry is experiencing a paradigm shift towards sustainable transport systems; however, there is limited scientific evidence related to the customer behavior toward HEVs despite their increasing relevance. Although BEVs dominate the policies, HEVs can be a good choice in this regard for Indians because of lower fuel dependency but no need for charging infrastructure. In this research, an attempt is made to explore the issues associated with purchase intention and consumer perception of HEVs among 110 individuals from urban areas of Pune city using structured quantitative survey. The validity of constructs was performed using Cronbach’s Alpha and Exploratory Factor Analysis by conducting Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation (KMO = 0.812). Three factors including Economic & Policy Consideration, Environmental Awareness & Perception and Adoption Barriers contributed to explain 59.4% of the variance in HEV purchase intention (R² = 0.594, F = 51.87, p < .001). One-way ANOVA revealed income-based difference in readiness for purchasing an HEV (F = 9.63, p < .001). As per results, major obstacles include relatively high purchase cost, lack of adequate incentives, uncertainty regarding resale value, and concerns about life expectancy of batteries. It seems appropriate for policymakers to streamline the tax policies related to HEVs, while automobile companies need to promote awareness among potential customers.
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