Influence of social networks on latent choice of electric cars : a mixed logit specification using experimental design data

Electric cars can potentially make a substantial contribution to the reduction of pollution and noise. The size of this contribution depends on the acceptance of this new technology in the market. This paper reports on the design and results of an elaborate stated choice experiment to investigate the effects of vehicle attributes, contextual and social network attributes on the latent demand for electric cars. The study contributes to the existing literature primarily by explicitly modelling the effects of different elements of social networks on the latent demand for electric cars. Moreover, the number of attributes included in the study design exceeds the typical number of attributes used in previous research, making the model more sensitive to a larger spectrum of variables. Two different mixed logit models are estimated: one with random parameters for vehicle attributes and contextual attributes and fixed effects for the social network attributes; one with random effects for social network attributes and fixed effects for the remaining attributes. Results indicate substantive differences between these two models in terms of the shape of utility curves. Overall, vehicle attributes are most important in the choice of electric cars, followed by social influence attributes. The effects of social network are relatively small.