Willingness to pay for electric vehicles in island regions: The case of Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Electric vehicles (EVs) could be a solution to reduce final energy consumption and carbon emissions in the road transport sector. Moreover, the mobility characteristics of drivers (i.e., their average driving distance) fit better with current EV technical features on a small island than in the mainland. This paper analyzes willingness-to-change (WTC) and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for an EV in Tenerife (Canary Islands), both of which are key factors for understanding potential for EV penetration. WTC and WTP in Tenerife island are estimated based on data collected through a face-to-face survey-based contingent valuation approach. We go on to assess the impact of a set of explanatory variables on both WTC and WTP, in order to characterize the representative profile of a potential EV buyer. Informing on the basic properties of an EV and environmental concerns are found to be key factors for WTC, while income level, mobility patterns, environmental concerns and attitude-to-tech of potential buyers are found to be important factors for WTP.