Study’s conclusion: consumer highly prepared to purchase electric vehicles
October 19, 2009
A recent Barkawi Management Consultant study has demonstrated consumers’ attendance to purchasing electric cars, given the right parameters.
Munich – plenty of manufacturers have presented a range of electronic vehicles at the IAA last month. A recent study conducted by Munich based consultants Barkawi has now been taking a closer look at the consumer’s view on electric mobility. The conclusion: little reservation, yet definite readiness to investing in purely electrically powered vehicles – under the right conditions, that is. The study’s result surprises with a high number of scores pro electric mobility:
85% of those 1200 polled, indicated the possibility of envisioning an electronic vehicle for their next car buy. To be the owner of an electric car, would mean a prestige-upgrade to 36% asked, and a loss of prestige to only 7%.
However, 29% of the study participants did indicate that an electric vehicle should not be more expensive than a similar model with a regular combustion engine. 56% stated they would accept a surcharge of 1000 Euro at most.
The general interest in electric vehicles was surprisingly high. Nevertheless, due to its pricey batteries, the added expenses in comparison to a vehicle with an ordinary combustion engine at this point would still be over 200 Euro per month. This is if you reflect the higher cost price on the service life’, says Frank Reichert, the head of the study ‚Next Generation Energy’ at Barkawi. If you deduct fuel-, maintenance- and tax savings, there are 115 Euro per month remaining. At present, customers are not willing to spend that amount. However, the difference could easily be reduced to 10 Euro per month by a smart promotion, such as a customized commuter flat rate, as well as adjusted parking fees and purchase price funding. This way, the electric car would instantly be attractive to the consumer’, Reichert concludes.
At present, a quarter of those polled are criticizing the missing charger-infrastructure in cities, during interurban drives, as well as the small reach of the current models, while the batteries’ charging time is too long.
On the contrary, customers were pleased with the model range introduced at the IAA. Only 7% of the sample declared, that the current electric vehicles were not meeting their requirements. As far as technical security of the electric drive and batteries was concerned, hardly any doubts were raised. Only 9% remained sceptic.
The customer survey is part of a large-scale study called ‚Next Generation Energy’. Here, Barkawi Management Consultants are examining in which areas electric vehicles could already be implemented successfully. It is also looked at what various business models and the distribution of roles within the participating partners could look like and which role the fleet of electric vehicles could be playing in the future – as a mobile buffer for regeneratively produced power.
Part of the study is a conference, which will take place on 5 November 2009 at Schloss Bensberg, near Cologne. The target group will be representatives of energy supply companies, manufacturers of power generation plants, car manufacturers, car suppliers, manufacturers of memory technology, fleet management executives, car rental companies, parking structure operators and car sharing companies, as well as scientists, investors, journalists and organizations. For more information regarding the conference, please find here: Conference Program in German Language (pdf, 545k)
About Barkawi Management Consultants:
Barkawi is an international management consulting firm, focusing on supply chain mana-gement and aftermarket services. Barkawi is engaged with businesses of technology-oriented backgrounds, such as mechanical engineering and plant manufacturing, hightech and telecommunications, railtraffic, aerospace, automotive, and medical technology. Cients of Barkawi are globally functioning large-scale enterprises with capitalintensive and logistically complex buinessmodels. These include Daimler, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Telekom, Electrolux, Fujitsu Networks, Philips, Porsche, Siemens and Vestas. Barkawi is located in Munich, Germany; Shanghai, China; New Delhi, India and Moskow, Russia. For more information on Barkawi, please visit www.barkawi.com
