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Author

Stephen Skippon

Other affiliations: Royal Dutch Shell
Bio: Stephen Skippon is an academic researcher from Transport Research Laboratory. The author has contributed to research in topics: Car ownership & Poison control. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 24 publications receiving 2126 citations. Previous affiliations of Stephen Skippon include Royal Dutch Shell.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results highlight potential barriers to the uptake of current-generation (2010) plug-in electric cars by mainstream consumers, including the prioritization of personal mobility needs over environmental benefits, concerns over the social desirability of electric vehicle use, and the expectation that rapid technological and infrastructural developments will make current models obsolete.
Abstract: Plug-in electric vehicles can potentially emit substantially lower CO2 emissions than internal combustion engine vehicles, and so have the potential to reduce transport emissions without curtailing personal car use. Assessing the potential uptake of these new categories of vehicles requires an understanding of likely consumer responses. Previous in-depth explorations of appraisals and evaluations of electric vehicles have tended to focus on ‘early adopters’, who may not represent mainstream consumers. This paper reports a qualitative analysis of responses to electric cars, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 40 UK non-commercial drivers (20 males, 20 females; age 24–70 years) at the end of a seven-day period of using a battery electric car (20 participants) or a plug-in hybrid car (20 participants). Six core categories of response were identified: (1) cost minimisation; (2) vehicle confidence; (3) vehicle adaptation demands; (4) environmental beliefs; (5) impression management; and, underpinning all other categories, (6) the perception of electric cars generally as ‘work in progress’ products. Results highlight potential barriers to the uptake of current-generation (2010) plug-in electric cars by mainstream consumers. These include the prioritization of personal mobility needs over environmental benefits, concerns over the social desirability of electric vehicle use, and the expectation that rapid technological and infrastructural developments will make current models obsolete. Implications for the potential uptake of future electric vehicles are discussed.

533 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study how private car drivers' perception of vehicle attributes may affect their intention to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) and find that people who believe that a proenvironmental self-identity fits with their self-image are more likely to have positive perceptions of EV attributes.
Abstract: The aim is to understand how private car drivers’ perception of vehicle attributes may affect their intention to adopt electric vehicles (EVs). Data are obtained from a national online survey of potential EV adopters in the UK. The results indicate that instrumental attributes are important largely because they are associated with other attributes derived from owning and using EVs, including pleasure of driving (hedonic attributes) and identity derived from owning and using EVs (symbolic attributes). People who believe that a proenvironmental self-identity fits with their self-image are more likely to have positive perceptions of EV attributes. Perceptions of EV attributes are only very weakly associated with car-authority identity.

433 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study how private car drivers' perception of vehicle attributes may affect their intention to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) and find that people who believe that a pro-environmental self-identity fits with their self-image are more likely to have positive perceptions of EV attributes.
Abstract: The aim is to understand how private car drivers’ perception of vehicle attributes may affect their intention to adopt electric vehicles (EVs). Data are obtained from a national online survey of potential EV adopters in the UK. The results indicate that instrumental attributes are important largely because they are associated with other attributes derived from owning and using EVs, including pleasure of driving (hedonic attributes) and identity derived from owning and using EVs (symbolic attributes). People who believe that a pro-environmental self-identity fits with their self-image are more likely to have positive perceptions of EV attributes. Perceptions of EV attributes are only very weakly associated with car-authority identity.

408 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors were given direct experience of driving a battery electric vehicle followed by an attitudinal questionnaire, and a vignette exercise to evaluate their attributions of symbolic meaning.
Abstract: Fifty-eight peoples were given direct experience of driving a battery electric vehicle followed by an attitudinal questionnaire, and a vignette exercise to evaluate their attributions of symbolic meaning. Findings suggested that some consumers might start to consider electric vehicles as second cars if they had a range of 100 miles, and as main cars if they had a range of 150 miles. They may be willing to pay modest premiums over conventional vehicles, equivalent to around three years’ running cost savings. Most would recharge at home overnight.

314 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a two-stage systematic search was conducted focusing on reviews published since 2000 and primary intervention evaluations referenced therein, finding that only 12 of the 77 evaluations were judged to be methodologically strong and only half of these found that the intervention being evaluated reduced car use.
Abstract: Transport accounts for nearly a quarter of current energy-related carbon dioxide emissions with car travel constituting more than three quarters of all vehicle kilometres travelled. Interventions to change transport behaviour, and especially to reduce car use, could reduce CO2 emissions from road transport more quickly than technological measures. It is unclear, however, which interventions are effective in reducing car use and what the likely impact of these interventions would be on CO2 emissions. A two-stage systematic search was conducted focusing on reviews published since 2000 and primary intervention evaluations referenced therein. Sixty-nine reviews were considered and 47 primary evaluations found. These reported 77 intervention evaluations, including measures of car-use reduction. Evaluations of interventions varied widely in the methods they employed and the outcomes measures they reported. It was not possible to synthesise the findings using meta-analysis. Overall, the evidence base was found to be weak. Only 12 of the 77 evaluations were judged to be methodologically strong, and only half of these found that the intervention being evaluated reduced car use. A number of intervention approaches were identified as potentially effective but, given the small number of methodologically strong studies, it is difficult to draw robust conclusions from current evidence. More methodologically sound research is needed in this area.

257 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The work of the IPCC Working Group III 5th Assessment report as mentioned in this paper is a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change, which has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.
Abstract: The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

3,224 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify potential socio-technical barriers to consumer adoption of EVs and determine if sustainability issues influence consumer decision to purchase an EV, and provide valuable insights into preferences and perceptions of technology enthusiasts; individuals highly connected to technology development and better equipped to sort out the many differences between EVs and CVs.

1,207 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comprehensive overview of the drivers for and barriers against consumer adoption of plug-in EVs, as well as an overview of theoretical perspectives that have been utilized for understanding consumer intentions and adoption behavior towards EVs, identifying gaps and limitations in existing research and suggest areas in which future research would be able to contribute.
Abstract: In spite of the purported positive environmental consequences of electrifying the light duty vehicle fleet, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in use is still insignificant. One reason for the modest adoption figures is that the mass acceptance of EVs to a large extent is reliant on consumers’ perception of EVs. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the drivers for and barriers against consumer adoption of plug-in EVs, as well as an overview of the theoretical perspectives that have been utilized for understanding consumer intentions and adoption behavior towards EVs. In addition, we identify gaps and limitations in existing research and suggest areas in which future research would be able to contribute.

788 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is the hope that this Review will inspire more interesting, robust, multi-method, comparative, interdisciplinary and impactful research that will accelerate the contribution that energy social science can make to both theory and practice.
Abstract: A series of weaknesses in creativity, research design, and quality of writing continue to handicap energy social science. Many studies ask uninteresting research questions, make only marginal contributions, and lack innovative methods or application to theory. Many studies also have no explicit research design, lack rigor, or suffer from mangled structure and poor quality of writing. To help remedy these shortcomings, this Review offers suggestions for how to construct research questions; thoughtfully engage with concepts; state objectives; and appropriately select research methods. Then, the Review offers suggestions for enhancing theoretical, methodological, and empirical novelty. In terms of rigor, codes of practice are presented across seven method categories: experiments, literature reviews, data collection, data analysis, quantitative energy modeling, qualitative analysis, and case studies. We also recommend that researchers beware of hierarchies of evidence utilized in some disciplines, and that researchers place more emphasis on balance and appropriateness in research design. In terms of style, we offer tips regarding macro and microstructure and analysis, as well as coherent writing. Our hope is that this Review will inspire more interesting, robust, multi-method, comparative, interdisciplinary and impactful research that will accelerate the contribution that energy social science can make to both theory and practice.

670 citations