TraCE analyses the future demand for electric vehicles
The aim of this collaborative research project between Renault Suisse S.A. and the Transportation Center of EPFL is to analyze the future demand in Switzerland for electric vehicles from Renault brand. This project is conducted in the framework of Renault’s Zero Emission campaign, which plans to launch electric vehicles on the market in 2011.
A quantitative survey will be conducted amongst Renault customers and customers of other car brands in order to identify the population segments with the highest interests for electric vehicles.
Moreover, based on collected data, mathematical models will be developed and used to lead to the definition of an optimal service bundle that will be proposed to the future customers. Willingness-to-pay analyses for an electric vehicle and associated services will be performed.
The elasticity of the demand with regard to vehicle’s characteristics will also be quantitatively evaluated. The methodology used in this study is discrete choice modeling, involving the integration of latent concepts such as opinion or attitudes. In the context of electric vehicles, the impact of environmental concerns or attitudes towards new technologies on market shares can hence be accurately quantified. This research project will last 1 year and will be conducted by the Transport and Mobility Laboratory of Professor Michel Bierlaire.