Factors influencing users’ willingness to use new energy vehicles

To understand potential users’ behavioral intention (BI) to adopt new energy vehicles (NEVs), a media-based perceptions and adoption model (MPAM) of NEVs geared toward potential NEV consumers was constructed based on social cognition theory, the technology acceptance model, the value acceptance model, perceived risk theory, and the MPAM of autonomous vehicles (AVs). A sample survey including 309 NEV potential users was conducted and the results were analyzed through SPSS 24.0 and SmartPLS 3.0 to test the model and verify the research hypotheses. The results show that mass media (MM) has a direct influence on users’ social norms (SNs) and part of product perceptions, and an indirect influence on their BI to adopt NEVs; SNs have a direct influence on product perception, and also indirectly affect BI toward NEVs. Product perception directly and significantly affects BI; perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived enjoyment (PE) have a positive and significant influence on BI, while both perceived cost (PC) and perceived risk (PR) have a negative and significant impact. This study is a theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to green product adoption scenarios, such as NEVs, in the face of the external stimuli from MM information; it proposes product perception variables and media information effects that are different from the MPAM of AVs. The results are expected to greatly promote NEV design and marketing.