Understanding transport users' preferences for adopting electric vehicle based mobility for sustainable city: A moderated moderated-mediation model

• Published in: Journal of transport geography 2023-01, Vol.106, p.103520, Article 103520
• Main Authors: Goel, Pooja, Kumar, Aalok, Parayitam, Satyanarayana, Luthra, Sunil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decision making; Electric vehicle; EVs adoption; Place-based decarbonisation (PBD); SEM; Sustainable transport; Urban mobility
• ISSN: 0966-6923; 1873-1236
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103520

Global urban mobility projects faces multiple sustainability challenges related to the high carbon emission and gasoline consumption. Due to carbon-intensive mobility, many developed countries implemented various place-based decarbonisation (PBD) strategies to develop sustainable city environments, but the adoption of PBD strategies in developing nations is still lagging. Electric vehicles (EVs) based mobilities are considered a PBD strategy to reduce city transport externalities. In addition, developing nations' transport users have various adoption uncertainties in adopting EVs-based urban mobility. Therefore, the present study focuses on understanding transport users' preferences for adopting EVs-based mobility to promote decarbonization in multiple places in India. The proposed conceptual model is based on attribution theory to develop EVs' adoption intention and validate it with the users of different tier-1 cities of India. The PBD strategies of the considered cities differ entirely from developed cities of the world and have different EVs promotion strategies. A structured survey instrument is used to record 335 potential users' responses to validate the conceptual model. The proposed model's psychometric properties are analysed with the LISREL package of Structural Equation Modeling. The moderated-mediation model and proposed research model hypotheses are tested using PROCESS macro. The obtained results confirm two important relations; first, the EVs technical attributes mediated the relationship between users' financial attributes and psychological attributes for PBD mobility adoption; Second, financial attributes are positively related to psychological attributes for adopting EVs for users' PBD mobility. The other key finding of the research is that the financial attributes interacted with the existing EV infrastructure (first moderator) and familiarity (second moderator) to influence the technical attributes of EV adoption. Thus, the obtained results unfold the complex relationships among financial attributes, psychological attributes, technical attributes, EV infrastructure, and familiarity for developing positive intentions towards adopting EVs for city decarbonization. The above factors profoundly impact the psychological makeup of users, resulting in individuals' purchasing intention of EVs for PBD. These results contribute to sustainable development in public transportation system and paves way to decarbonise city mobility. This paper helps