Determinants of consumers’ intentions to switch to electric vehicles: a perspective of the push–pull–mooring framework

Abstract

Gauging the extent of consumers’ willingness to choose electric vehicles rather than conventional vehicles has become increasingly important. Based on the push–pull–mooring framework, this study aims to examine how these three factors influence consumers’ intention to shift from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles. Based on 886 validated questionnaires from six pilot cities, findings reveal that push factors such as price consciousness and social influence are effective in convincing consumers to switch from conventional vehicles to electric ones. Moreover, pull factors, including perceived benefit and convenience, attract consumers to switch to EVs. In line with our expectations, mooring factors such as perceived risk and inertia have a negative effect on consumers’ switching intentions. Furthermore, perceived risk and inertia significantly reduce the positive effect of push and pull factors on consumers’ switching intentions. These findings provide important implications for China’s transition to low-carbon transportation.

Keywords:

• electric vehicles
• switching intentions
• push–pull–mooring framework
• social influence
• inertia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 71974177) and the USTC Research Funds of the Double First-Class Initiative (Grant number YD2040002016).