This article presents a stated preference study of electric vehicle
choice using data from a national survey. We used a choice
experiment wherein 3029 respondents were asked to choose
between their preferred gasoline vehicle and two electric versions
of that preferred vehicle. We estimated a latent class random utility
model and used the results to estimate the willingness to pay for
five electric vehicle attributes: driving range, charging time, fuel
cost saving, pollution reduction, and performance. Driving range,
fuel cost savings, and charging time led in importance to
respondents. Individuals were willing to pay (wtp) from $35 to
$75 for a mile of added driving range, with incremental wtp per mile
decreasing at higher distances. They were willing to pay from $425
to $3250 per hour reduction in charging time (for a 50mile charge).
Respondents capitalized about 5 years of fuel saving into the
purchase price of an electric vehicle. We simulated our model over a
range of electric vehicle configurations and found that people with
the highest values for electric vehicles were willing to pay a
premium above their wtp for a gasoline vehicle that ranged from
$6000 to $16,000 for electric vehicles with the most desirable
attributes. At the same time, our results suggest that battery cost
must drop significantly before electric vehicles will find a mass
market without subsidy