PHEV Buyers
Moderator: Dahlia Garas, University of California at Davis
Ken Kurani
University of California at Davis, PhD Student
- 2001 NHTS travel data
- Underrepresents long trips
- Wrong interpretation
Walter McManus
University of Michigan, Economist
- Why do we have cars? Get to the office, to survive, to go shopping, to get the girl, to win.
- Marketing is not about price
- Basic needs: shelter, food, fire, dog :-)
- Home economicus or homo mundanus :-)
- Minivan is probably the most utilitarian vehicle ever invented, but they are not sexy so people don’t buy them as much as others
- There is more to driving than just getting from point A to point B: the road, the car chase, beauty, romance, identity, The Girl
- There are hints from the Hummer that cars are more than just utilitarian
- Does the Volt evoke things like this?
- Most vehicles have a range of 350 miles
- Volt fits California better than Detroit
- Price will not be the decider – the decider will be everything else
- You want to design a product that people will say “I want it” even if the price is high – like the Hummer
- Plug-in hybrid are kinda “geeky”
- 40 miles is a ludicrous number because the “average” driver doesn’t exist
Jonn Axsen, University of California at Davis
Charging Opportunity
- Online survey by Harris Interactive of 2,373 new vehicle buying households. Questions, trip log, discussion
- Previous analysis suggested 15% to 35% of households were preadapted to PHEVs
- Recharge potential:
- 50% of population was with 25 feet of recharging outlet each day.
- About 5% opportunity at work
- About 10% at other locations
- Cars parked and opportunity to charge coincides and peaks at 6pm and then through the night
What Do Consumers Want?
- Selected smaller sample based on recharge potential, desire to buy
- Criteria: Recharge time, MPG or all electric (charge depleting – CD), range, MPG after batteries depleted (charge sustaining – CS)
- Base model: 8 hour recharge, 75 MPG, 10 mile range, MPG + 10
- First game, assign points to upgrades desired
- Upgrades wanted: recharge time least desired, other upgrades desired about the same
- Ideal: 8 hour charge time, 125 MPG CD, 40 mil range, +30 MPG CS
- Price for upgrade
- 38% stayed with base system
Summary
- Recharge potential: 53% (36-61%) Helpful to have detached house or garage
- Little potential for work and opportunity charging with current driving patterns
- Recharge time: highest at night 50%, lowest during the day 20%
- Little evidence of “Volt Assumption”
- Little inherent interest in All-electric operation
- Most frequent upgrades: CS fuel economy
- About a 1/3 people stayed with base PHEV model
- Wide variation in response
Conclusion
- More potential for recharging than thought
- Wide range of niche markets
This report will be available on the ITS Davis Website on August 1
Questions
- In study, how was “all electric” described? Answer: Study was careful not create value, so only gave minimal information and didn’t give any benefits of “all electric”
Created on July 23, 2008 10:34:14
by
Max Dunn
(216.1.176.121)