First Name: | Kenneth |
---|---|
Last Name: | Kurani |
Email Address: | knkurani@ucdavis.edu |
Affiliation | University of California |
Subject | VW ZEV Investment Plan |
Comment |
That emphasis should be placed on ZEV education and outreach in the first 30 month spending plan of the VW ZEV Investment Plan is unassailable. The success of any other action to grow ZEV markets—including charging and fueling infrastructure deployment—depends on potential consumers knowing of those actions. Research to date indicates the vast majority of car-owning households—even new car-buying households—remain unaware of the present possibilities to buy and drive any of a growing variety of ZEVs. The vast majority of the car-buying public does not recognize ZEVs when they see them and does not perceive the growing extent of ZEV charging and fueling infrastructure. Proposals to 1) immediately and rapidly spread and increase vehicle buyers’ awareness of ZEVs, 2) prompt vehicle buyers consideration of the social goals and private motivations for ZEVs, and 3) provide vehicle buyers with targeted, relevant information based on their interests, will benefit every ZEV stakeholder and every citizen. Statements from the ZEV stakeholder community are shaped by the fact those statements are made by stakeholders, i.e., by people immersed in ZEVs but not necessarily immersed in the lives of most Californians to whom ZEVs remain unknown. Support for ZEV infrastructure, also a goal of the first 30 month spending plan, is not a substitute for education and outreach. At present, it seems unlikely infrastructure deployment is even a complement to ZEV education and outreach until enough vehicle buyers have asked whether a ZEV is right for them. Only when vehicle buyers ask themselves this question do the signs of a transition to ZEVs—vehicles, charging/fueling infrastructure, incentives—become visible and interpretable. Only if people know the signs and what they mean will people look for the signs. Showing people the signs of a ZEV transition, teaching people what the signs mean and how to interpret the signs within the contexts their own lives, i.e., conducting a pervasive ZEV education and outreach to the population of motor vehicle buyers, will make advertising, infrastructure deployment, incentive programs, and all other aspects of the ZEV transition visible and thus more effective. Thus the choice in formulating the first 30 month spending plan is not between ZEV education and outreach on the one hand and infrastructure deployment on the other, but on balancing of the two to their greatest effect. |
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2016-12-16 13:20:09 |
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