Acceptance, adoption and nudging of smart charging

Abstract

Smart charging is seen as an effective way to reduce grid loads and demand peaks resulting from the charging of electric cars, but until now little research has been done on user acceptance and the willingness to adopt this system. This study focuses on the motives underlying acceptance and adoption of smart charging. Moreover, a nudging experiment within the context of a letter is carried out to investigate if adding a descriptive social norm or changing the default to opt-out can positively influence acceptance and adoption of smart charging. In this experiment respondents receive a letter which informs them about smart charging and invites them to participate in a smart charging pilot. Respondents are randomly assigned to one of three letters which contains either a descriptive social norm, an opt-out condition or no treatment. For a sample of 50 electric car drivers from The Netherlands our results show that environmental benefits and integration of renewable energy sources are the most important motivations underlying the acceptance of- and the willingness to adopt smart charging solutions. Furthermore, adding a descriptive social norm to the letter has a slight negative effect on the willingness to adopt smart charging, which indicates that one should be cautious with the implementation of nudges. These and other results should be taken into account by policymakers in order to achieve broad adoption of smart charging in the future.