The Diffusion of Sustainable Technologies: The Case of Electric Vehicles

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

Based on the assumption that electric vehicles can decrease fossil fuel dependency and ameliorate urban air quality issues, elected officials at the federal, state, and municipal levels have enacted a variety of policies designed to increase the adoption of this potentially radical technology. This project examines the degree to which these policies, individually or in tandem, affect consumers' willingness to purchase electric vehicles, and the degree to which these policies are driving technological adoption. Alternatively, public policies may be a response to existing demand for electric vehicles and are, therefore, a lagging rather than leading adoption of this technology. This research increases understanding of the ways public policy can influence, either assist or restrain, the spread of new technologies. The research provides a conceptual and empirical basis for future study of the adoption of radical sustainable technologies. The project surveys the electric vehicle policy landscape in large municipalities across the United States and the ways government officials, representatives of industry, and citizens are communicating about and implementing electric vehicle policies. The project also surveys individual consumers in large U.S. cities in order to assess the effect that government and industry activities have on consumer interest and purchases of electric vehicles.