Author(s): Veena K. Pailwar, Maheswaran Srinivasan
This paper investigates, for the first time, the dimensionalities of electric car (e-car) purchase intentions among postgraduate management students in India. On the basis of identified dimensionalities, the study also assesses whether the average scores of the identified factors are significantly different for the different categories of demographic characteristics of the respondents. On the basis of the results, the paper draws managerial and policy implications. To carry out the study, a well-structured questionnaire to measure purchase intentions along with several demographic variables is administered. With 273 valid responses, an exploratory factor analysis is used to extract the factors to identify the dimensionalities. The factor analysis resulted in seven factors and these factors are named as Driving Convenience, Technological Attributes, Government Policy, Environmental Concern, Charging Convenience, Economic Benefits and Symbiotic Attributes. Of all the demographic attributes considered in this study, average scores of economic benefits differ significantly across gender, educational background and work experience. Prior experience with electric cars has significant impact only on the average scores of Government Policy. The findings of this study suggest that the manufacturers of e-cars can get competitive advantage by focusing on issues related to Driving Convenience and Technical Attributes.