"The problem with surveys, as countless political polls have shown, is that people often tell the survey takers what they think they want to hear - or give an answer they think makes them look best - then go out and do whatever it is they want to do, even if it is diametrically opposed to what they said for the survey.
But that's why there are margins of error and why, even when the polls are off by a big margin, they can still serve as signposts, showing the direction in which the public is traveling even if unable to pick out the exact road.
That's why people with products or candidates to push and ideas or ideals to sell keep commissioning polls and surveys.
The green crowd is no different and the latest, being released right now, is from Better Place, the California-based firm promoting a global EV charging and battery exchange system.
Understanding - no dummies they - that chargers and battery swap systems aren't worth much without electric vehicles that use batteries that need to be charged or swapped, Better Place commissioned Paris-based global market research firm Ipsos to find out if there is much market potential for electric vehicles.
The poll was taken in five countries during March and April, when gasoline prices were relatively low all over the world - not the best of conditions for EVS, which tend to be more costly that gasoline vehicles and can't be justified on a purely economic basis unless gas prices are very high.
Survey takers in the U.S, Israel and Denmark, the greater Toronto area of Canada, and the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney areas of Australia, asked more than 8,000 people whether they would consider cars and trucks that ran on something other than gasoline for their next purchase and how interested they were in electric cars for their next vehicle.
The U.S. came in dead last, with 30 percent of respondents expressing interest in an electric car for their next vehicle purchase. (Last, but that's still almost one in three while many analysts don't see EVs taking more than 15 per cent of the U.S. market in the next decade or so.)
In Israel, where oil independence is a critical and immediate concern and Better Place has a well-publicized contract with the national government to install a network of chargers and battery swap stations to serve a car being built by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, 57 percent of respondents said they would consider an EV for their next car and almost half of them (28 percent of all respondents) percent said they would consider nothing but an EV.
In the other countries, 40 percent of respondents in Denmark, 39 percent in Australia, and 35 percent in Canada's greater Toronto area said "yes" when asked if they would consider other than a gasoline vehicle for their next purchase.
The information provided late Sunday by Better Place didn't include and data on whether the respondents were given a price or price range to consider - something that likely would have a big impact of willingness to buy an EV, as it would in any auto purchase consideration.
And its only fair to point out that in addition to Israel, Better Place has a national contract in Denmark, and regional agreements in Australia and Canada, so the idea of EVs has been highly promoted in those countries over the past year
Better Place also is working with several state and cities in the U.S. to foster interest in its idea that swapping batteries would make driving an EV as easy as driving a gasoline car: There would no longer be any range anxiety if consumers knew they could have the nearly depleted battery pack in their EVs replaced with a full charged pack in a matter of a few minutes.
That's not a flaw in the survey, but it does suggest that lots of media and political talk about the vehicles and incentives to get them on the road isn't going to hurt people's perceptions.
Better Place, says the survey shows that there's strong consumer interest in EVs in many countries now and that even in the gasoline-addicted U.S., "nearly one in three ... car buyers are interested in purchasing an electric vehicle for their next car."
We'd go a little easy on the hard numbers - we're not confident that even 1 in 10 new vehicle buyers would grab an EV when finally there are some available (although we think the number will grow, considerably, as more models and more charging facilities are introduced, increasing usability and decreasing cost).
Vehicle price, the cost and availability of other fuels and the availability of public chargers and some sort of fast-charging or battery exchange system(s) all will have an impact on the market and on people's willingness to put their money where their mounts were now.
But we're also comfortable that the Better Place-Ipsos EV study does show that people increasingly are aware of the national energy security and environmental benefits of electric vehicles and that is something worth shouting from the parapets.
If the study's numbers are proven to be right, then great. Kudos. We'll be the first to stand up and cheer.
If a little optimistic - as people are wont to be when being asked about their beliefs - then, well, whatever else it does, or doesn't, do, the Better Place-Ipsos study shows that that as awareness of EVs grows, so does acceptance.
It shows that that there's enough interest in electric vehicles to encourage auto companies old and new to get some into the market, and soon.
And that's great, too."
Source: Green Car Advisor
But that's why there are margins of error and why, even when the polls are off by a big margin, they can still serve as signposts, showing the direction in which the public is traveling even if unable to pick out the exact road.
That's why people with products or candidates to push and ideas or ideals to sell keep commissioning polls and surveys.
The green crowd is no different and the latest, being released right now, is from Better Place, the California-based firm promoting a global EV charging and battery exchange system.
Understanding - no dummies they - that chargers and battery swap systems aren't worth much without electric vehicles that use batteries that need to be charged or swapped, Better Place commissioned Paris-based global market research firm Ipsos to find out if there is much market potential for electric vehicles.
The poll was taken in five countries during March and April, when gasoline prices were relatively low all over the world - not the best of conditions for EVS, which tend to be more costly that gasoline vehicles and can't be justified on a purely economic basis unless gas prices are very high.
Survey takers in the U.S, Israel and Denmark, the greater Toronto area of Canada, and the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney areas of Australia, asked more than 8,000 people whether they would consider cars and trucks that ran on something other than gasoline for their next purchase and how interested they were in electric cars for their next vehicle.
The U.S. came in dead last, with 30 percent of respondents expressing interest in an electric car for their next vehicle purchase. (Last, but that's still almost one in three while many analysts don't see EVs taking more than 15 per cent of the U.S. market in the next decade or so.)
In Israel, where oil independence is a critical and immediate concern and Better Place has a well-publicized contract with the national government to install a network of chargers and battery swap stations to serve a car being built by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, 57 percent of respondents said they would consider an EV for their next car and almost half of them (28 percent of all respondents) percent said they would consider nothing but an EV.
In the other countries, 40 percent of respondents in Denmark, 39 percent in Australia, and 35 percent in Canada's greater Toronto area said "yes" when asked if they would consider other than a gasoline vehicle for their next purchase.
The information provided late Sunday by Better Place didn't include and data on whether the respondents were given a price or price range to consider - something that likely would have a big impact of willingness to buy an EV, as it would in any auto purchase consideration.
And its only fair to point out that in addition to Israel, Better Place has a national contract in Denmark, and regional agreements in Australia and Canada, so the idea of EVs has been highly promoted in those countries over the past year
Better Place also is working with several state and cities in the U.S. to foster interest in its idea that swapping batteries would make driving an EV as easy as driving a gasoline car: There would no longer be any range anxiety if consumers knew they could have the nearly depleted battery pack in their EVs replaced with a full charged pack in a matter of a few minutes.
That's not a flaw in the survey, but it does suggest that lots of media and political talk about the vehicles and incentives to get them on the road isn't going to hurt people's perceptions.
Better Place, says the survey shows that there's strong consumer interest in EVs in many countries now and that even in the gasoline-addicted U.S., "nearly one in three ... car buyers are interested in purchasing an electric vehicle for their next car."
We'd go a little easy on the hard numbers - we're not confident that even 1 in 10 new vehicle buyers would grab an EV when finally there are some available (although we think the number will grow, considerably, as more models and more charging facilities are introduced, increasing usability and decreasing cost).
Vehicle price, the cost and availability of other fuels and the availability of public chargers and some sort of fast-charging or battery exchange system(s) all will have an impact on the market and on people's willingness to put their money where their mounts were now.
But we're also comfortable that the Better Place-Ipsos EV study does show that people increasingly are aware of the national energy security and environmental benefits of electric vehicles and that is something worth shouting from the parapets.
If the study's numbers are proven to be right, then great. Kudos. We'll be the first to stand up and cheer.
If a little optimistic - as people are wont to be when being asked about their beliefs - then, well, whatever else it does, or doesn't, do, the Better Place-Ipsos study shows that that as awareness of EVs grows, so does acceptance.
It shows that that there's enough interest in electric vehicles to encourage auto companies old and new to get some into the market, and soon.
And that's great, too."
Source: Green Car Advisor
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