Factors Influencing the Electric Car Purchases in the Visegrad Countries: Comparative Analysis of the Influencing Key Factors

Abstract

The climate protection goals and regulatory mechanisms of the world’s leading economic powers are accelerating the transition towards electric cars. The most important cornerstone of the successful transition to electric based mobility and product sale is that the value expected and the value perceived by the customer are matched. For understanding these values, it’s unavoidable to examine that what kind of factors are influencing the decision making process of the potential e-car buyers. This study focuses on  the influencing factors examined in the Visegrad (V4) countries with the methodology of the systematic literature review (SLR). The research question is: “What are the key factors affecting consumers’ decisions to purchase electric vehicles in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia?” Beside of the research question, the following hypothesis is validated: “The same influencing factors play a role in the electric car purchasing decisions in the Visegrad countries.” The analysis also use the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as theoretical lens for analyzing customer decision making process. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that in the Visegrad countries, the electric car purchase process is primarily influenced by the purchase price, the inadequacies of the charging infrastructure and the insufficient range of electric vehicles. Environmental awareness is present in the decision-making process, but it plays only secondary role. Despite the fact that there are numerous differences (e.g. country size, GDP, e-car purchase support policy, purchasing power parity etc.) between the Visegrad countries. As having conclusion, the observations enable us to formulate hypotheses regarding the key influencing factors of electric car purchase decision making process. It also helps us to understand these influencing factors and based on them, all of the stakeholders like car manufacturers and dealers, political decision makers, local governments etc. could modify their strategies and take actions to promote the transition to electric vehicles.