How can Flip the Fleet more effectively encourage people to buy EVs?

Your take-home messages:

Flip the Fleet can best increase EV uptake by placing positive and authoritative messages in a wide variety of media. A continuous mix of the numbers and personal stories of EV owners will work best. More recruits are needed to improve the project’s reach and effectiveness, especially if more tools and presentation material are provided to the members to communicate the results in their own networks and communities.  Supporting car dealers and targeting messages to the auto-magazines will be helpful, but really the scale of barriers to EV uptake means we need to use all methods to reach diverse audiences. There is ample evidence that Flip the Fleet is already building confidence amongst prospective buyers and EV owners – we mainly just need to help each other to keep on going as hard and fast as we can.

This month’s poll:

Our nineteenth 1-click survey began by asking participants whether Flip the Fleet will succeed in accelerating EV uptake in New Zealand (see https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-19/). Respondents were then asked to add comments and provide answers to six supplementary questions, including:

“What are the two most important ways that Flip the Fleet can increase the probability of other people buying EVs?”

(1) Giving more presentations to wider audiences

(2) More use of social media (Facebook and Twitter etc) for outreach

(3) Create online tools showing the benefits of switching to an EV

(4) More TV and radio and print media engagement

(5) Other

The poll was sent to 798 participants in Flip the Fleet on 25 May 2018. There were 429 responses by 4 June, 312 of which provided detailed comments and answers to 6 other questions, including the question analysed here. Respondents were invited to specify details if they chose ‘Other’.  This report also incorporates the relevant comments to the final question in the survey – “What have we missed?” – and invitation to offer broad responses to the flip the fleet programme and how to improve it.

What makes you click?

Participants thought the creation of online tools to showcase the benefits of EVs was best bet for increasing EV uptake (32%). Using TV, radio and print media for increased engagement also received good support (28%), but social media wasn’t thought to be as effective (16%). One in five of you thought giving more presentations to wider audiences will up EV purchases (20%), with the remaining 5% having Other ideas.  There was no sign that potential ways to improve Flip the Fleet’s effectiveness were correlated with the respondent’s overall confidence that the project will accelerate EV uptake (Table 1).

 

Figure 1. Percent of 544 choices by 312 participants in a survey of how Flip the Fleet could increase the probability of other people buying EVs, May-June 2018.

 

 

Table 1: Responses to questions about the most valuable components and future improvements of Flip the Fleet’s services differentiated between responses that “Strongly agree”, “Agree” or “Neither agree nor disagree” of ‘Disagree” that Flip the Fleet will accelerate EV uptake.  Choices are arranged in order from most frequent to least frequent across all responses to Question#1.

^y Includes 5 choices by people who chose “disagree” with the main survey question.

 

Ready…set…engage!

Here’s a word cloud of the comments you provided to the question about how to increase the probability of people buying EVs, using the ‘Wordle’ package: the larger the font, the more times that word appeared in your testimony (Fig. 2). You emphasised people, cost and the buyers, as well as the value of information.  And for the first time in the survey, the role of media and stories played a prominent role.

 

Figure 2.  A word cloud of the most frequent 100 words used in your responses to the outreach question of the survey. The larger the word, the more often you mentioned it. Similar words were combined for this analysis to give a better indication of the language used and it’s intent. For example, “cost” encompasses costs, “tool” is grouped with tools, and “buyers” includes buying. Common words such as “EV”, “Flip the Fleet”, “Leaf”, “like”, “perhaps”, and “maybe” as well as “i.e.”, “e.g.”, and “etc.” were removed.

 

 

We take pride in the fact that “people” sit at the centre of the Flip the Fleet project, so it’s great to see us all shining through in this Wordle! But, yikes, the word “cost” is also there with possible positive and negative connotations.

Several of your people-related comments mentioned the need to firstly decide exactly who we should be encouraging to buy an EV, or indeed who can afford to buy one, and letting this direct the type of media used to engage and promote potential buyers.

Many of you identified the mainstream media as the first and main exposure to the possibility of going electric. Bold opinions swayed heavily towards TV, radio and print media: “While EVs have a reputation for being expensive (though, I don’t think so for equivalent aged cars), it’ll be the older generation who can afford them (hence my clicking TV, radio, and print media)”. But not everyone think we can trust the media: “I have a pretty poor opinion of NZ journalism so I give more weight to presentations than to engagement with TV, radio and print media”. Several of you expressed your frustration with some influential and poorly informed media commentators.  Examples included: “There is a lot of misinformation out there about the cost of running EV vehicles”; “Mainstream media and politicians (e.g. Jami-Lee Ross) are still full of misinformation and negative commentary on EVs. Needs to be combatted”; “I’m a Radio NZ National listener and I still hear arrant nonsense from some commentators on segments like The Panel and elsewhere”. In light of this, perhaps at least some EV promotional material should be devoted to “Target the most common, stubborn myths about EVs and their environmental impact, lifetime CO2 emissions, costs etc.”, or else we take a more direct approach: It would be great to make contact with Jesse Mulligan or Kathryn Ryan again and give them an update on the number of EVs registered, the number of owners hooked up to FTF and the sorts of savings we’re collectively making. Maybe a chance to address some widely-held misconceptions about EVs too”.

Even if the mainstream media is the main gateway to flag the EV option, it’s clear that other ways follow to build the confidence of people to actually switch.  The social media networks may work for some but not others e.g. “First of all, people need to learn [that they have an EV option]. Social media are too poisonous, and online tools are the second or even third step. Thus traditional media and engaging with people directly seem to be the most effective tools to me at this stage”. Others thought that: “Children and young adults are more open to new ideas than busy parents” which perhaps leans more towards the use of social media. Another participant noted: “Raising EV’s in public awareness is going to improve uptake, and social media is the cost effective, contemporary way to share stories”.

An additional and novel idea included the use of an EV influencer: “Get buy-in from a local recognised personality who drives an EV – then communicate an interview with him / her”.  There was also general support for word-of-mouth promotion. This is where “people” and “information” came together, with the suggestion to arm EV owners with simple yet effective information and let them take it from there! “Making the information available to existing EV owners is key, because EV uptake is spreading largely through personal connections”. Several actual examples of this in action were reported: “When one of my friends heard I bought a PHEV, he enquired, I gave him what I knew, next week he has a Leaf”.

A key stakeholder, influencer and communicator in the whole chain is the car dealer. Some of you urged us to “Increase awareness at a dealer level”, and “Maybe (create) some links through EV sellers – pamphlets in each car?”.

Some Flip the Fleet members are even willing to spread the word beyond a casual chat or timely encounter, with a suggestion that we make available: “a presentation that can be used by other EV enthusiasts to present at functions like Rotary and Lions”. Now there’s an idea! A smart presentation with speaker’s notes can be delivered by a dispersed army of EVers who then can add their own personal testimony to the bones of the presentation that features our collective data.

There’s also the extremely personal interaction of test driving cars. A bit of admin required, and no doubt a trailer load of trust, but “In my experience, it is the test drive that sells EVs. It’s the stories that get people to take a test drive”. The Better NZ Trust organise the Leading the Charge events with funding help from the government to do this very effectively.  The testimonials speak for themselves: “my brother drove my Leaf once, for thirty minutes, and two weeks later bought his own, as a direct result of the test drive (and intensive online research, admittedly)”. Another said “I just keep letting people drive my car”. So partly we just need to get bums in drivers’ seats to capture their hearts and back-up with the facts and figures to fill in their heads afterwards!

Some of you emphasised a division of effort between providing general messages and providing useful customised information and tools for prospective buyers.  For example, one of you advised us to “Focus on allowing people to identify what is normal for a car that they might be interested in (e.g., they’ve seen a 2013 Leaf at a dealer and want to know if it is a good buy, what the SOH should be etc.). Big picture stuff on buying EVs is unlikely to be helpful”. Compare that with a broader: “Focus on touting the environmental and social benefits more than information on car efficiency, which as of yet, is outside the scope of the membership”.

Now what about the elephant in the room? The capital “cost” associated with EV purchase is, as you well know, an investment repaid in future savings. But not everyone is able to take the initial financial knock to reap the later rewards. Some think it’s only a matter of time before this barrier is broken down, stating that: “the younger generation may be more convinced as ranges and their resources grow, making having an EV as the MAIN family vehicle more viable”.  Others see a way to fast track EV uptake through subsidising vehicles and improving battery longevity: “Cost is the primary driver for this market, no subsidies means low uptake until prices come down, and extra publicity won’t help. The big issues are technical – battery management and especially, battery replacement”. 

Apart from the opinion that EVs currently sit outside many household budgets, the word “cost” did also branch into the cost savings EV ownership makes available. We received many comments about how to use this to promote ownership through the all-powerful comparison approach: “Compare EV vs ICE running costs, but include the full life cycle costs for a unit of energy!”. One participant thinks: “we need a calculator based on our data where a person can enter their own annual travel distance and current car or its consumption rate so the computer can predict how much money they’ll save by selling their current dunger, and what the payback time might be compared to buying a newer ICE machine”.

It’s not all about the money.  You’d also like to see the cost-effective running of an EV paired with supplementary information about the many other positive aspects: “More published reports showing the benefits to owners and to society as a whole from the adoption of electric vehicles”.

One respondent thought we are overcooking the messages in the Infographics i.e. “Many of the Flip The Fleet infographics reflect an activist viewpoint which makes it difficult to take them seriously.”

Others think that the limited number of EV models available in NZ is slowing the flow: “..of course the main reason for less uptake is the price and that the most popular choice of car is not supported locally”.

Finally, we might be able to work on EV infrastructure to achieve more solid charging networks, and in turn entice people to make the switch – especially if range anxiety is currently their major deterrent. “Do what is possible to encourage more fast charge stations, including adding extra ones where they already exist. I feel that “range anxiety” is now being replaced by the anxiety of finding a charging station out of action”; “Put pressure on central and local government for infrastructure (e.g. more chargers on the highways)”; “Help guide government policy and infrastructure requirements – funded as consultants”. Along with lowering the initial cost of EV investment, investing in infrastructure so one can go about their daily life and drive the distance in a relatively similar fashion will likely prove a turning point in our bid to increase EV uptake.  This leads some of you to call for Flip the Fleet to “put pressure on central and local government for infrastructure (e.g. more chargers on the highways).”

Some quite specific strategies were suggested:

• Plaster promotion on EVs around the nation
• use of more comparative data to convince potential buyers e.g. “Some sort of analysis showing the pattern of existing car use in NZ and the extent to which this can be done with an EV. Maybe broken down into usage groups with percentage of commuting, local run-a-round, long distance”.
• “Giving buyers confidence when selecting a new or used car by providing info on Leaf Spy, etc. – it is good to know as this reduces uncertainty”

 

Conclusions and recommendations

It’s a long and pitted road

We all know we are up against a real challenge to get most New Zealanders into EVs. Plenty of your messages referred to the need for us all to just keep on going  e.g. “Keep it coming”; “Keep up the awesome work”; “Keep sending data”; “Keep sending reminders”; “Keep the feedback coming”.

In view of the scale of the challenge, many of you are urging an “everything goes” approach to spread the EV net widely.   For example, one of you said: “Not sure [which method is best], but anything that increases publicity must help. I’ve had my Leaf for a year, and only just heard about Flip the Fleet by chance”. And another remedied: “Gosh, all of the above”.  We agree our core task is to mobilise “Anyway that can make EV ownership more mainstream”.

Others are urging more careful targeting and adjusting the method and the messages accordingly: e.g. get to the kids – they are more open, even if it will be a while before they are the decision-makers.  Older folk may not be as trusting of social media and much less likely to use it. Some of you identified the dealers as a key group for carrying Flip the Fleet’s messages onwards.  A recent study in Europe had actors approach dealers and recorded their subconscious or conscious efforts to talk potential customers out of buying EVs (http://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2018/05/glib-car-dealers-are-a-major-obstacle-to-ev-adoption/.)  Is this also happening in NZ?  We see many wonderfully committed and well-informed EV dealers, some of whom contribute to EV Facebook groups. But maybe we should be directing our information to the other dealers who don’t share our confidence in EVs?  How can we best bring the other’s around?  We were really pleased to discover an EV dealer in Christchurch has printed out Flip the Fleet’s infographics for display around their show room (they are all available for download and use at https://flipthefleet.org/resources/infographics/.  There is also a large number of specialist automobile magazines that could play important roles in reaching the traditional car lovers.  Finding the people that are interested in cars for their own sake is half the battle, so we should perhaps try to develop specialised EV columns or EV journalists to work those channels.

Quite apart from who we target, which barriers we try to erode, and what methods we use to spread the word, we must pay attention to the tone of our communication and to make the messages near continuous and non-threatening. One of you put it this way: “If you shout at people (“EVs are best”) they will recoil. If you keep a continuous feed showing people, especially influential people, enjoying them, people will start to want to join the club”.

Finding the appropriate tone for the messaging is difficult.  You have emphasised that the credibility and therefore the trust in Flip the Fleet’s evidence comes from telling the bad along with the good (https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-19/). But we also need to remain positive-minded and show solutions wherever and whenever we can. For example, some people feel we didn’t finish the response to the Nissan 30kW battery very well e.g. You’ve told us why we should be depressed, now tell us what we can do about it!”. Of course, we would love to have been able to do that, but it is not altogether clear what can be done yet. For others, even the bad news is worth having if it raises hope that a solution will eventually be found e.g. “As I have a 30k battery, keep up the good work there”.

Recommended strategies to improving EV outreach

In your opinion, the following could help Flip the Fleet increase the probability of EV purchase:

• Focus on the benefits of EV ownership by using powerful vehicle comparisons
• Encourage test drives – you’ve gotta drive them to feel them!
• Use a wide variety of media channels to debunk EV myths and accurately inform potential buyers
• Increase the social media activity to complement the success being enjoyed in the mainstream media
• Build awareness about Flip the fleet amongst more EV owners – you can multiply our impact by growing the team
• Approach car dealerships and like-minded organisations for help in promoting Flip the Fleet, and in return offer them targeted help and tools to promote their EV sales
• Tell peoples’ stories alongside providing the numbers
• Produce EV resources, making them readily available and shareable, and help current owners spread the word
• Use Flip the Fleet data to encourage government to build infrastructure and actively intervene to break down common barriers to EV uptake
• Tackle the cost issue (perhaps via government subsidy or showing the impact of subsidies and feebates) to make EV ownership more realistic to a larger proportion of the population
• Find a way to make Flip the Fleet sustainable, and never, ever give up.

What does your big picture diagnosis of Flip the Fleet look like?

Phew! This brings us to the end of the additional 1-click survey questions in the May survey that we have transformed into blogs (take a look at the main 1-click survey that started this chain off by clicking https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-19/.). What you most valued and most want next were described at https://flipthefleet.org/2018/what-do-flip-the-fleet-participants-find-most-useful/ .  And then we followed the money at https://flipthefleet.org/2018/funding-flip-the-fleet-to-keep-it-sustainable/ . All up you dumped over 1500 nuggets of advice, encouragement and the occasional brick bat into our laps.

It seems we really are making a difference. With Flip the Fleet data readily available, people “just need to show others and they are amazed at how much we have saved so far”, whilst others “have mentioned it as a source of data to put buyers’ minds at rest”. Many of you are now “more aware of how to look after my battery”, and are becoming real EV champions using FtF to fuel the EV movement: “I link to some resources from the website for people asking questions about EV ownership (predominantly Leaf ownership) on Facebook EV groups I am a member of”.

It’s always good to end on high notes, so here are a few encouraging comments to round out the series. We can rest assured, knowing: “The data have come in handy for some strident debates among mates”, and that people are: “excited to know that Flip the Fleet will help establish EV’s in New Zealand and the world”. Others really do “like being part of the EV community, and Flip the Fleet is a hub for that community”.  Some have encouraged us to: “Keep up the awesome work”, and it’s quite amazing how a “thanks for all you are doing” here, and confirmation that we “do a great job” there raises the team’s energy and determination levels. We certainly at times need and receive motivation to “Just keep on doing what you are doing!”, while collectively you’ve suggested heaps of ways that we can all work smarter. “Thanks guys (which is not meant to be gender specific LOL) for all your dedicated hard work”. And wow, who said “I sing your praises loud and clear to all interested in getting an EV so they have unbiased information” … we’d like to buy you a drink.

 

Your comments in detail:

Below is a lightly edited and re-arranged selection of many of the comments received.

Yell EVees from the treetops!

“Anything that will successfully reach the widest possible audience, good and bad” ● “Not sure, but anything that increases publicity must help. I’ve had my Leaf for a year, and only just heard about FTF, by chance” ● “Gosh, all of the above” ● “All of the above” ● “Publicity” ● “Anyway that can make EV ownership more mainstream” ● “all of the above”

Keep promotions to-the-point, cost-effective and positive

“Prepare simple, easy to understand info for the “next-wave” of uptake audience, and distribute via the most cost-effective channels/media” ● “dumb-down the information (it can seem a little technical at times), and make the reports more readily available” ● “Act as a clearing house for robust and relevant EV knowledge” ● “Fake news is all the rage, what’s worse than good news?  Bad news about EVs (30kWh battery rate of deterioration)” ● “Recent TV item was very upbeat. Need more of this” ● “Comment more on the benefits, unfortunately the negative findings of the 30kW batteries tend to have higher profile” ● “Have a logo on an EV or two that you or others drive around (or maybe you already do this?)” ● “Raising EV’s in public awareness is going to improve uptake, and social media is the cost effective, contemporary way to share stories” ● “Get buy in from a local recognised personality who drives an EV – then communicate an interview with him / her” ● “Focus on allowing people to identify what is normal for a car that they might be interested in (e.g. they’ve seen a 2013 Leaf at a dealer and want to know if it is a good buy, what the SOH should be etc.).  Big picture stuff on buying EVs is unlikely to be helpful”

Join forces with like-minded organisations and companies

“Collaborate with others, such as EECA, sympathetic car dealers and electricity suppliers, etc.” ● “Be on prospective EV buyers’ radar” ● “Increase awareness at a dealer level” ● “Maybe some links through EV sellers – pamphlets in each car????” ● “Integrate / collaborate with EECA and the EECA tools”

 

Media needs to match the target market

“While EVs have a reputation for being expensive (though, I don’t think so for equivalent aged cars), it’ll be the older generation who can afford them (hence my clicking TV, radio, and print media)” ● “to regional councils on EVs and e-buses” ● “First of all, people need to learn. Social media are too poisonous, and online tools are the second or even third step. Thus traditional media and engaging with people directly seem to be the most effective tools to me at this stage” ● “many of the Flip The Fleet infographics reflect an activist viewpoint which makes it difficult to take them seriously” ● “I have a pretty poor opinion of NZ journalism so I give more weight to presentations than to engagement with TV, radio and print media” ● “It was great to see and hear the recent Radio and TV coverage and more” ● “I’d love to see some more stories on how the older generation is embracing electric cars, how simple and straightforward they find it” ● “More print media engagement (TV and radio less effective in my opinion for this type knowledge sharing)” ● “Children and young adults are more open to new ideas than busy parents”

Create a promo power couple: EV information + word of mouth

“Making the information available to existing EV owners is key, because EV uptake is spreading largely through personal connections” ● “this will help us to also provide information to friends” ● “Perhaps a presentation that can be used by other EV enthusiasts to present at functions like Rotary and Lions” ● “Nothing like face to face…but time and energy intensive” ● “When one of my friends heard I bought a PHEV, he enquired, I gave him what I knew, next week he has a Leaf”

Provide the information needed to convince would-be buyers

“Providing more statistical information about EV usage and lifespan in NZ, allowing people to make informed decisions about purchasing, especially within the 2nd hand market” ● “perhaps some personal stories on the web site about how people are finding their EVs” ● “Giving buyers confidence when selecting a new or used car.  Info on Leaf Spy, etc. is good to know as this reduces uncertainty” ● “If you shout at people (“EVs are best”) they will recoil. If you keep a continuous feed showing people, especially influential people, enjoying them, people will start to want to join the club” ● Run a ‘make good’ Nissan Leaf 30kwh campaign: You’ve told us why we should be depressed, now tell us what we can do about it! E.g. these guys will replace your battery for ? dollars, and ‘Don’t worry your battery will be good for at least 8? bars’.  This is when (& where) we recommend you book a (main) battery replacement … The 30kwh battery can (or can’t)  be upgraded to a 40Kwh battery & this is the cost” ● “More published reports showing the benefits to owners and to society as a whole from the adoption of electric vehicles” ● “By asking this question you seem to imply that flip the fleet has a positive role to play in the uptake of EVs in NZ [the world]? My opinion would be your role is to find the good or bad in the evolving transition of a petrol powered fleet to an electric one!” ● “Focussing on touting the environmental and social benefits more than information on car efficiency, which as of yet, is outside the scope of the membership”

 

People like comparisons; show and promote them

“We need a calculator based on our data where a person can enter their own annual travel distance and current car or its consumption rate so the computer can predict how much money they’ll save by selling their current dunger, and what the payback time might be compared to buying a newer ICE machine” ● “Maybe you are doing this already.  Some sort of analysis showing the pattern of existing car use in NZ and to the extent to which this can be done with an EV. Maybe broken down into usage groups with percentage of commuting, local run-a-round, long distance. Identifying the relative cost structures and degree of convenience” ● “Compare EV vs ICE running costs, but include the full life cycle costs for a unit of energy! ” ● “Creating a tool to help you select the best EV for you” ● “Online tools showing the benefits and also the cost of switching to an EV” ● “One thing I do note is that the Drive Electric TCO tool does the job for fleet operators who are buying new cars, this doesn’t do the job for people like me who just want to see when the difference in capital cost between EVs and ICEs will be paid back by the reduced running costs. Cost of capital blah blah are just too complicated. Could FTF provide a tool to compare say a 2011 Leaf to a 2011 Corolla?”

 

Target efforts towards convincing the misinformed

“Mainstream media and politicians (e.g. Jami-Lee Ross) are still full of misinformation and negative commentary on EVs. Needs to be combatted” ● “There is a lot of misinformation out there about the cost of running EV vehicles” ● “People are very resistant because the constraints inherent in electric vehicles blind them to the benefits. This is partly why any negative stories have far more impact than you expect” ● “Need to find ways to counter the many myths that are evident when reading comments sections in Stuff for example” ● “I’m a Radio NZ National listener and I still hear arrant nonsense from some commentators on segments like The Panel and elsewhere. It would be great to make contact with Jesse Mulligan or Kathryn Ryan again and give them an update on the number of EVs registered, the number of owners hooked up to FTF and the sorts of savings we’re collectively making. Maybe a chance to address some widely-held misconceptions about EVs too” ● “Target the most common, stubborn myths about EVs and their environmental impact, lifetime CO2 emissions, costs etc.”

 

Get bums in drivers’ seats!

“Some incentive for people to take a non-EV owner for a drive; e.g. make it one day a year – maybe Father’s Day or Mother’s Day” ● “In my experience, it is the test drive that sells EVs. It’s the stories that get people to take a test drive” ● “Create opportunities for people to drive EVs.  My experience:  my brother drove my Leaf once, for thirty minutes, and two weeks later bought his own, as a direct result of the test drive (and intensive online research, admittedly)”

 

It’s not a promotion or education issue, it’s a capital cost issue

“..of course the main reason for less uptake is the price and that the most popular choice of car is not supported locally” ● “the younger generation may be more convinced as ranges and resources grow, making having an EV as the MAIN family vehicle more viable” ● “Cost is the primary driver for this market, no subsidies means low uptake until prices come down, and extra publicity won’t help. The big issues are technical – battery management and especially, battery replacement”

Push for more solid infrastructure to decrease angst

“Do what is possible to encourage more fast charge stations, including adding extra ones where they already exist. I feel that “range anxiety” is now being replaced by the anxiety of finding a charging station out of action” ● “Put pressure on central and local government for infrastructure (e.g. more chargers on the highways)” ● “Help guide government policy and infrastructure requirements – funded as consultants”

Unsure/No Comment/Other comment

“Unsure” ● “Less emails!”

 

 

Hannah Gentle, Henrik Moller, Daniel Myall and Dima Ivanov

19 June 2018