Electromobility is a major concern for Swiss drivers: there has been a real battle of faith about electric cars, not just since the energy scarcity debate, on social media, internet forums, and Blick comment columns (More: the impending power crisis?). Those who are not for it are against it – there are hardly any shades of gray. But here’s the thing: by 2035, most manufacturers in Europe want to offer electric vehicles only. And Swiss buyers are already leading the way: Pure electric cars have accounted for more than 16 percent (as of the end of October) of local new car sales this year – in 2019 this was just a negligible 1.8 percent!
However, according to experts, it is absolutely necessary to have a minimum of basic knowledge about e-mobility in order to make the right purchase decision. Not only importers and garages are needed here, but also consumers. The Swiss Automobile Trade Association (AGVS) and the Institute of Business Informatics at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) conducted a research project to determine how familiar the Swiss population is with e-mobility. At the end of July, 383 people in German-speaking Switzerland were asked in writing about their information, information evaluation, purchase intentions and criteria.
Men overestimate themselves
In summary: The current level of knowledge on the subject in Switzerland is surprisingly low. The six questions asked about e-mobility relate to, for example, the number of charging stations in Switzerland or electricity costs per 100 kilometers. The result: out of 100 possible points, participants only averaged 14.9 points!
Comparing self-assessment with actual knowledge is interesting: it shows no link here. More than a quarter of those surveyed rated their knowledge as “high” or “quite high”. Interesting: Men rated their knowledge significantly higher than women. 37.8 percent of men said their e-mobility information was “high” or “quite high,” compared to just 16.2 percent for women. But especially those who were supposed to be “high”, i.e. those who were apparently well-informed, knew very little when answering their questions and had the lowest true knowledge index of all groups, with just 10.4 out of 100 points!
The old know more than the young
ZHAW project manager Andreas Block explains that this result can have important implications in practice: “If your own knowledge is rated too high and the price estimate for, for example, the cheapest electric vehicle is too high, then there is a high probability that this person will not seriously consider buying an electric vehicle – that person for his own conviction that he clearly understands the price situation.»
If the results are separated by gender and generation, it is seen that women have a higher level of knowledge with 16.9 points compared to 13 points. Surprising: If you look at the distribution by age, the value increases continuously, from 9.7 points for the youngest Generation Z (born in 1997 or later) to 17.8 points for the oldest Silent Generation (up to 1944).
logical, not emotional
In addition to the level of knowledge, the criteria that decide on the purchase of e-cars also attracted attention. It is surprising that there is no truly dominant category: The three most mentioned categories (“cost aspects” 77.8%, “environmental aspects” 77.7%, “vehicle technology” 77.6%) are close to each other. Rational criteria such as “environmental aspects” have more influence on purchasing decision for electric drive vehicles than emotional criteria such as “prestige” as opposed to vehicles with combustion engines.
As a result, manufacturers need to communicate more to dispel ignorance, according to the study’s authors. Government should proactively provide more consistent information on public charging infrastructure and usage through various communication channels. And for garage owners, e-mobility is an opportunity to raise their profile through good advice. But this will only be successful if the sales personnel have the necessary knowledge – this is where AGVS comes in with its many advanced education and training courses. There is more information about the survey in AGVS’s auto industry trade magazine “Autoinside,” which will be published on Friday.