Drivers of E-Mobility

This chapter analyzes the key drivers of electro-mobility and places the current status quo into the context of the historical development of electro-mobility. Climate change will be exhibited as a strong driver of electro-mobility, as alternative powertrains are identified as the most potential way of reducing CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the analysis of the key drivers shows that the development of e-mobility is contributed by technological innovations, charging infrastructure, and changing customer preferences. The “energy consumption and urbanization” section discusses how the scarcity of oil as a definite resource is contributing to the evolvement of EVs and also how the “Elon Musk effect” is causing a humongous price competition between renewable energies and within the oil industry. It has been identified that oil is a finite resource but will not run out in the foreseeable future. This section also shows that oil is not the crucial influencing factor for EVs. Moreover, it underlines that the development of oil is strongly dependent on the future development of EVs. The “customer preferences” subsection of this chapter plays a key role in the analysis of the development of electro-mobility as it contributes to the demand function. The analysis is based on literature, empirical models, and valuable conducted studies. The section identifies factors which are impacting customer preferences the most and divides them into financial, technical, policy, and individual variables. Additionally, it analyzes the correlation of these variables with the willingness to buy an EV, in order to find out, which variables are impacting customer preferences significantly. As a result, the subsection works out that the potential financial advantage has the strongest correlation with the buy decision of customers. The chapter also shows that individual variables are impacting buying decisions significantly taking personal attitudes, socio-demographic factors, psychological factors, and social influence into consideration.