Changing The Game In The Electric Vehicle Arena
Accelerating Consumer Adoption Of The Electric Truck

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  Category: Automotive, Electric Vehicles
  
  Methods: Choice Modeling, Automotive Research, Quantitative Research

Summary

Our client is a pioneering manufacturer in the hybrid electric vehicle space. Hybrid electric pickup trucks have been available in the U.S. marketing since 2004, although back then these trucks had very limited capabilities and were considered “micro-hybrids.” Today, EV trucks are plentiful and powerful, offering as much as a 400-mile range, up to 11,000 pounds of towing capacity, and zero to 60 in under 3 seconds. In between then and now, a lot of innovation had to occur to get us to this place.

As this OEM sought to change the game in the North American market with their electric vehicle (EV) lineup, the truck/SUV division was struggling to understand weak consumer demand, negative consumer perceptions and its competitive position in the market. With more OEM’s entering the EV market, and manufacturers constantly improving their technology when it came to durability, driving range and price, our client sought our help in ensuring their continued leadership in the EV market.

Our client wanted to know what consumers wanted, but more importantly, what they “needed” in an electric light-duty truck that would make it more appealing than competitor models. This begged the question – is the rest of the industry doing something wrong with their electric trucks from a product or marketing standpoint? In a recent study by GlobalTrace, adoption of electric trucks is slower for a couple of reasons: maintenance and high prices and limited charging stations. In the midst of an extremely competitive market, our client wanted to create more interest, fill some critical gaps, and boost sales of its EV light-duty trucks while staying true to the reputation already built by the brand.

Research Design and Methods

In order to understand, from a product and marketing standpoint, what needs to be improved to increase consideration of Electric Light Duty Trucks in the market Decision Analyst conducted in-depth choice modeling research. The study spanned six vehicle segments and more than 10 key driving scenarios required of light duty trucks/vehicles to determine the barriers to adoption and the influence of compromise by trading off key attributes. Our choice modeling exercise uses a multivariate statistical technique to simulate real-world consumer purchasing behavior. The resulting data are used to create a DecisionSimulator&trade in which potential sets of marketing variables, product features, and marketing conditions could be evaluated over time by the client, allowing them to run varied scenarios to assess the most effective path relative to their resources and goals.

Results

The study very clearly uncovered the key barriers to consumer adoption of an EV pickup truck, among each potential inflow vehicle segment, and provided the client with specific ways to combat these negative perceptions. We also identified the three dominant factors that drive EV truck purchase decisions and quantified the tradeoffs buyers are willing to make in terms of towing capacity, horsepower and price. The study identified specific benchmarks for these key areas.

We recommended that our client focus on improving three key features, while keeping the vehicle price competitive with Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles. We also made strategic recommendations that would allow them to move faster and would ensure that vehicle production includes the latest technology without having to reinvent the wheel.

Following a series of work sessions and presentations lead by Decision Analyst to review the data and findings, our client went to work with their cross-functional innovation team. Since conducting this revolutionary work, our client has seen a near 70% increase in sales of electric vehicles and their portfolio has increased 6-fold. Their goal is to introduce more EV models in the coming years in an effort to make them even more affordable as well as innovative to first time EV buyers as well as early adopters, many of whom have identified regrets about their choice.

Automotive Research Services

If you would like more information about our Automotive Research Services, please contact Heather Kluter, Senior Vice President of Automotive Research (hkluter@decisionanalyst.com), or call 1-800-ANALYSIS (262-5974) or 1-817-640-6166.