Does environmental awareness play a role in EV adoption? A value-based adoption model analysis with SEM-ANN approach

Abstract. Global warming is a serious threat to humanity, and one of the main reasons is that the transport sector contributes to CO2 emissions. The auto industry's Introduction of electric-powered vehicles (EVs) is widely viewed as the primary solution. Although electric vehicles (EVs) have numerous benefits, acceptance rates vary widely from country to country, and the promised reductions in energy shortages and emissions have not materialized. We used the Value-based technology adoption model and added Environmental awareness (EA) as a new factor in this model to assess the role of EA in EV adoption intentions. Because of the complexity in consumer adoption decisions and nonlinearity in the dataset, we proposed the SEM-ANN mixed-method approach to address these issues. We gathered responses from 751 EV users in China and used the SEM-ANN dual-stage mix model to evaluate presented hypotheses and prioritize factors by relevance. According to the study's findings, although EA is a major predictor of EV adoption, it is not the most important. According to the study's findings, perceptions of the benefits and sacrifices associated with EV adoption have a considerable influence on the perceived value of EV, so this worth drives adoption intentions. Government and the electric car manufacturing business stand to gain much from this research, both theoretically and practically.