Portuguese awareness of electric vehicles' role on energy transition

• Autor(a) principal: Gonçalves, João Filipe Varejão
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/28414
• topic: Veículo eléctrico -- Electric vehicle; Energy transition; Consumer awareness; Portugal; Transição energética; Consciência do consumidor

Recently, the environmental crisis cannot be denied, following the climate changes that have been taking place. We are currently undergoing an energy transition, which aims at a wider use of renewable energies. Focusing on the transports sector, Electric Vehicles are seen as the best solution to carry out this transition. Thus, this research aims understanding if there is a complete level of awareness about the role of Electric Vehicles in the energy transition by the Portuguese population. From the survey applied to people over 18 years old living in Portugal, 151 answers were registered. 61.6% own a Conventional Vehicle and only 6% own an Electric Vehicle. The study concluded that the sample is moderately aware of Electric Vehicles, as they have knowledge about their acquisition, but have doubts about their engines and the costs of circulation. Additionally, a large part of the sample considers Electric Vehicles to be critical for the energy transition, although there is a lack of knowledge about their specific impacts. Finally, we concluded there is a sense of change in more than 50% of the sample, considering it may increase as long as people are more interested in Electric Vehicles and are more likely to acquire one in a next buying. The awareness of Electric Vehicles is critical in this context, as it is the catalyst for the population's perception of importance and to be the facilitator of the sense of availability to switch vehicles, alongside with government incentives and improved purchasing power of the population.