Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been discussed as a promising alternative to conventional cars and as a potential solution for mitigating environmental problems caused by road transport. This study analyzes the potential of the commercial use of EVs and the factors influencing user acceptance in commercial fleets. Empirical data on the daily use of EVs was collected by conducting online surveys, interviews, and workshops with the users. This paper summarizes the insights on potential advances and challenges related to the use of the vehicles in commercial fleets from a user perspective. The results suggest that EVs meet the mobility needs of different commercial users, bringing reputational and environmental related benefits for the companies. Main challenges for the deployment of EVs are related rather to the periphery of the EVs (e.g., infrastructure, market characteristics, and lack of experts in related service sectors as well as psychological barriers). Finally, policy and management recommendations in different fields drawn from a synthesis of the data collected within the study are introduced in this paper.

Abstract

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a service that supports customers’ transportation needs by providing information and ticketing for a multitude of transport modes in one interface; thus, buy potentially fostering multimodality and public transport, it represents an important lever to reduce negative transportation impacts such as emissions and congestion. By means of an online survey conducted in Switzerland, we try to understand potential user needs as well as factors that would motivate the use of MaaS. Comparing the openness to use MaaS for specific trip purposes like commuting and leisure activities, we find the lowest level of openness for commuting and the highest for weekend leisure trips. Intention to reduce car usage was positively related to openness to MaaS in commuting. On the other hand, factors that positively influence openness to using MaaS for leisure activities include a higher education degree, experience with carsharing and the use of transport-related climate policy announcements directly affecting consumers. These findings suggest focusing specifically on either commuting or leisure activities when designing policy measures. ISSN:1867-0717 ISSN:1866-8887 Document type: Article