Consumer motivation by using unified theory of acceptance and use of technology towards electric vehicles

The transport sector is the leading source of growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. To consider environmental degradation aspects due to transport, electric vehicles (EVs) have the prospect to lead road transport to electric mobility from conventional petroleum vehicles. Despite various eco-friendly benefits, the EV market penetration ratio is very low, especially in developing countries. The primary reason for low penetration is consumer limited motivation and knowledge about the EVs features. This paper uses a unified theory of acceptance and technology (UTAUT) model to assess consumer motivation and environmental knowledge towards EVs. This research used convenience random sampling to collect data and analyzed the results using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method on the example of 199 respondents from Malaysia. The study results revealed that factors identified in the motivational context significantly influence consumer intentions to purchase EVs. Perceived environmental knowledge and technophilia have been included in UTAUT from a motivational perspective. Furthermore, a significant relationship between effort expectancy, social influence, technophilia, perceived environmental knowledge, and purchase intention towards electric vehicles has been observed, without performance expectancy. The study findings serve to inform policymakers and automakers to formulate effective marketing strategies to enhance consumer motivation, knowledge, and value creation for EVs in a sustainable era. Ultimately, the policies will help to encourage consumers to buy eco-friendly vehicles that will help reduce transport carbon emissions and attain sustainable development goals (SDGs). © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.