US Household Preferences for Alternative-Fuel Vehicles: Results from a National Survey

This paper analyzes responses to a 2010 national survey of 835 US households to explore consumer preferences among five types of vehicles that differ in propulsion technology (gasoline, hybrid electric (HEV), compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen fuel cell (HFC), and electric (EV)), vehicle cost, fuel cost, fuel availability, vehicle range, and CO2 emissions during operation. Although gasoline-fueled vehicles are still preferred, there was strong interest in alternatives to gasoline vehicles, and especially in HEVs, while EVs are least popular. The authors estimated a panel rank-ordered mixed logit model to understand the impact of vehicle characteristics and of the socio-economic characteristics of respondents on their preferences for alternative fuel technologies. With the exception of CNG, respondents prefer alternative propulsion technology in cars as opposed to pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUV), or minivans. The region where people live is not statistically significant. Education matters only in the case of HEVs, but gender has no significant impact, and the influence of age is technology specific. It was found that environmental attitudes are strong predictors of AFV support, particularly for HFC vehicles and EVs. In addition, the authors elicited trade-offs people are willing to make between vehicle cost, fuel cost, vehicle range, and refueling time. In spite of consumer interest for alternative-fuel vehicles, environmental benefits still take second place to economic considerations.