Factors that Impact Consumers’ Expenditure on Electric Vehicles: A Case Study from China

Development of electric vehicles is dynamic all around the world, and so does in China. This is because of the characteristics of electric vehicles, such as powered by green energy, no pollution in functioning, and more convenient in driving. However, the stock of electric vehicles is still relatively small, which is only about one percent of total vehicles in the world. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to stimulate the development of electric vehicles and improve their ownership. The purpose of this paper is to study the factors that will influence consumers’ expenditure on electric vehicles in China. This paper implies the model based on Theory of Planned Behavior, Technology Acceptance Model, and Innovation Diffusion Theory, and further develops the model by adding environmental impact as a new factor. The paper utilizes Cronbach alpha score and regression analyze to analyze and validate data. This study concludes that there are eight dimensions that impact consumers’ expenditure on electric vehicles in China: Consumer’s attitude towards electronic cars, consumer’s subjective norm on electronic cars, consumer’s self-control ability, consumer’s perceived usefulness of electronic cars, consumer’s perceived convenience of electronic cars, consumer’s adaptability on electronic cars, external information, and perceived environmental effect of electronic cars. The implication of this paper is to help firms and government understand what is required to improve the popularity of electric vehicles in consumers’ perspective and increase number of stocks of electric vehicles.