Electric Vehicles
Co-op Members Willing to Plug in Car
Electric co-ops are proud to be innovators. Turns out their members are, as well.
A new survey finds co-op members are receptive to electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf. (Photo By: Michael W. Kahn)
“About half of the market is pretty receptive to owning an electric vehicle, which is pretty high for a new technology,” said Tom Laing, director of market research at TSE Services, which conducted the Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives 2010 National Survey on the Cooperative Difference.
It was the first year that the survey asked about interest in electric cars, and Laing is quick to acknowledge that the results are not what he expected.
“What really surprised me was that the driving distances really aren’t all that prohibitive,” Laing said. “You’ve got about half of your market needing to drive less than 100 miles a day between charges, and that really puts a lot of the electric vehicles into the realm of possibility.”
Among the electric cars currently mass-marketed, the all-electric Nissan Leaf is built to go 100 miles on a full charge. Chevrolet’s plug-in hybrid Volt is good for 35 electric miles before the gasoline engine kicks in for another 375 miles.
Laing also took heart at what he called “a pretty significant willingness for our members to coordinate the recharge of their vehicle with their cooperative.” As many as 90 percent were amenable—an important figure, because all utilities are counting on electric car owners to recharge off-peak.
“If we have to offer discounts in order to make that happen, the discounts apparently do not need to be very large,” Laing added. “Modest discounts appear to be sufficient.”
Co-op members ages 35 to 44 are most apt to either probably or definitely consider an electric car. Members who are 65 and older have the least interest.
Related content: Survey on the Cooperative Difference
Tags: Electric Vehicles, Survey on the Cooperative Difference, Touchstone Energy