IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i2p770-d1320124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Propensity to Adopt Electric Vehicles in the United Arab Emirates: An Analysis of Economic and Geographic Factors

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Michael Bridi

    (Geography and Urban Sustainability Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates)

  • Marwa Ben Jabra

    (Laboratory of Research in Automation, Signal and Image Processing, National High School of Engineering of Tunisia, Monastir 5000, Tunisia)

  • Naeema Al Hosani

    (Geography and Urban Sustainability Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates)

  • Ahmed Hassan Almurshidi

    (Geography and Urban Sustainability Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates)

Abstract

In 2022, the increased utilization of electric vehicles (EVs) curtailed global carbon dioxide emissions by 13 gigatons. While EV ownership has been on the rise in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accounting for approximately 1.3% of passenger car vehicles in 2022, it has not yet attained a level of economic feasibility compared to petroleum vehicles. The authors examined consumers’ opinions in the UAE toward adopting EVs for light-duty transport from the economic and geographic perspectives. The main research question was the following: to what extent do economic and geographic factors affect consumers’ opinions toward adopting EVs in the UAE? The objectives were to determine if a relationship exists between economic factors, such as saving money on petroleum, the cost of car maintenance, the cost of purchase, and income level, and geographic factors, including 14 cities across the seven Emirates that affect consumers’ opinions toward adopting EVs. We designed a survey that was distributed to a sample of 5459 respondents to examine this relationship. Descriptive and inferential statistics as well as PyData analytical techniques complemented by the application of data visualization tools such as Seaborn, Plotly, and Matplotlib were employed to examine the dataset. The findings demonstrated that respondents across all income levels have a positive outlook regarding the appeal of EVs for saving money on petroleum, while their interest in saving money on car maintenance and the initial cost of purchase became more pronounced in the higher income levels. Moreover, there were variations in preferences in highly populated Emirates (e.g., Dubai and Abu Dhabi) compared to Emirates with lower populations (e.g., Ras Al Khaimah and Umm al Quwain), confirming that much more emphasis is required to promote EVs in rural areas. When comparing multiple income groups to determine the impact of different factors, the ANOVA confirmed the prevailing patterns evident in the associations.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Michael Bridi & Marwa Ben Jabra & Naeema Al Hosani & Ahmed Hassan Almurshidi, 2024. "The Propensity to Adopt Electric Vehicles in the United Arab Emirates: An Analysis of Economic and Geographic Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:770-:d:1320124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/770/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/770/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hidrue, Michael K. & Parsons, George R. & Kempton, Willett & Gardner, Meryl P., 2011. "Willingness to pay for electric vehicles and their attributes," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 686-705, September.
    2. David S. Rapson & Erich Muehlegger, 2023. "The Economics of Electric Vehicles," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 274-294.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Kester, Johannes & Noel, Lance & de Rubens, Gerardo Zarazua, 2019. "Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 214-229.
    4. Robert M. Bridi & Marwa Ben Jabra & Naeema Al Hosani, 2022. "An Examination of Consumers’ Opinions toward Adopting Electric Vehicles in the United Arab Emirates: On the Effects of Functional and Symbolic Values," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.
    5. Caulfield, Brian & Furszyfer, Dylan & Stefaniec, Agnieszka & Foley, Aoife, 2022. "Measuring the equity impacts of government subsidies for electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    6. Bento, Antonio M. & Li, Shanjun & Roth, Kevin, 2012. "Is there an energy paradox in fuel economy? A note on the role of consumer heterogeneity and sorting bias," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 44-48.
    7. Alya AlHammadi & Nasser Al-Saif & Ameena Saad Al-Sumaiti & Mousa Marzband & Tareefa Alsumaiti & Ehsan Heydarian-Forushani, 2022. "Techno-Economic Analysis of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems Designed for Electric Vehicle Charging: A Case Study from the United Arab Emirates," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng, Ruoqing & Tang, Justin Hayse Chiwing G. & Yang, Xiong & Meng, Meng & Zhang, Jie & Zhuge, Chengxiang, 2024. "Investigating the factors influencing the electric vehicle market share: A comparative study of the European Union and United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    2. Charly, Anna & Misra, Gourav & Sonarghare, Shubham & Fealy, Rowan & McCarthy, Tim & Caulfield, Brian, 2024. "Evaluating the readiness for electric vehicle adoption among the urban population using geospatial techniques," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Alyamani, Ryan & Pappelis, Dimitrios & Kamargianni, Maria, 2024. "Modelling the determinants of electrical vehicles adoption in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    4. Xiong, Siqin & Yuan, Yi & Yao, Jia & Bai, Bo & Ma, Xiaoming, 2023. "Exploring consumer preferences for electric vehicles based on the random coefficient logit model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    5. Huang, Youlin & Qian, Lixian, 2021. "Consumer adoption of electric vehicles in alternative business models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. Berliner, Rosaria, 2018. "Drivers of Change in a World of Mobility Disruption: An Overview of Long Distance Travel, Shared Mobility, and Automated Vehicles," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt6r64v86z, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    7. Larson, Paul D. & Viáfara, Jairo & Parsons, Robert V. & Elias, Arne, 2014. "Consumer attitudes about electric cars: Pricing analysis and policy implications," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 299-314.
    8. Fischbacher, Urs & Schudy, Simeon & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Heterogeneous preferences and investments in energy saving measures," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Xingping Zhang & Rao Rao & Jian Xie & Yanni Liang, 2014. "The Current Dilemma and Future Path of China’s Electric Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-27, March.
    10. Ahmed Kouider Aissa & Alessandro Tampieri, 2024. "Green Consumers and the Transition to Sustainable Production," Working Papers - Economics wp2024_04.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    11. Sumitkumar, Rathor & Al-Sumaiti, Ameena Saad, 2024. "Shared autonomous electric vehicle: Towards social economy of energy and mobility from power-transportation nexus perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    12. Ramos-Real, Francisco J. & Ramírez-Díaz, Alfredo & Marrero, Gustavo A. & Perez, Yannick, 2018. "Willingness to pay for electric vehicles in island regions: The case of Tenerife (Canary Islands)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 140-149.
    13. Alexandros Dimitropoulos, 2014. "The Influence of Environmental Concerns on Drivers’ Preferences for Electric Cars," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-128/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Anne Christine Lusk & Xin Li & Qiming Liu, 2023. "If the Government Pays for Full Home-Charger Installation, Would Affordable-Housing and Middle-Income Residents Buy Electric Vehicles?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Tuğba Yeğin & Muhammad Ikram, 2022. "Analysis of Consumers’ Electric Vehicle Purchase Intentions: An Expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-27, September.
    16. Elena Higueras-Castillo & Sebastian Molinillo & J. Andres Coca-Stefaniak & Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas, 2020. "Potential Early Adopters of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in Spain—Towards a Customer Profile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Zehua Li & Jiaran Niu & Zhenzhou Li & Yukun Chen & Yang Wang & Bin Jiang, 2022. "The Impact of Individual Differences on the Acceptance of Self-Driving Buses: A Case Study of Nanjing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    18. Natalia Fabra & Catarina Pintassilgo & Mateus Souza, 2024. "Observed patterns of free-floating car-sharing use," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 259-297, September.
    19. Ambec, Stefan & De Donder, Philippe, 2022. "Environmental policy with green consumerism," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    20. Petschnig, Martin & Heidenreich, Sven & Spieth, Patrick, 2014. "Innovative alternatives take action – Investigating determinants of alternative fuel vehicle adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 68-83.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:770-:d:1320124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.