Social Acceptance and Preference of EV Users—A Review

Electric vehicles (EVs) are drawing increasing attention, given the volatile fuel prices and impending reduction in fuel supplies. EVs are also preferred in the automotive industry as they reduce the environmental impact and fuel consumption while achieving a higher efficiency when compared to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). Although most of energy and environmental policies worldwide have set targets with the goal to shift from classic fossil fuel driven vehicles to electrified transport, the share of EVs is still rather low. The complexity of changing the human perception of transportation goes beyond technical and economic aspects and very few research activities managed to capture the additional factors. This paper presents a comprehensive review of studies on consumer preferences for EV, aiming to better inform policy-makers and give direction to further research. In addition, this paper discusses the main obstacles that limit the social acceptance in adopting EVs such as driving obstacles, charging obstacles and willingness-to-pay from consumers. Furthermore, mitigation strategies are outlined as the recommendation to promote a better EV deployment.