Towards a Sustainable Car Fleet
To reduce CO₂-emissions by cars and realize a more sustainable car fleet the Dutch government uses financial measures, such as the car and motorcycle tax. Yet there are also other, under-used, tools which origin from social psychology and behavioral economics. The insights from these fields can help to affect the behavior of car users in order to make it more sustainable. Social psychology and behavioral economics pay attention to the unconscious and irrational side of decision making, including the heuristics or rules of thumb that people use and the role of social norms. Buying a new car seems at first sight an entirely rational process. The car must meet several physical requirements which are well considered. Moreover, the purchase of a car is generally predominated only every four or five years and is for many people a large cut out of the family budget. There is nevertheless also an irrational side to the purchase. Experimental research shows clearly how people are guided by the opinion and the behavior of others. That also applies to the purchase of cars. The car is not only an instrument, an object which ensures one can travel from A to B, it is also a source of status. It is a positional good with which we show something of ourselves and which we use to mark our position in society. Who is aware of this social mechanism can use it to facilitate the sale of clean hybrid, semi-electric and electric cars. In this paper the possibilities are explored for several target groups. As a starting point for discussion a number of possible policy measures are explored, which are directly or indirectly aimed at stimulating the purchase of green cars using the status mechanism: (1) Emphasize the exclusive character of green cars with the help of the Halo-effect (by using politicians, movie stars and famous sportsmen as role models); (2) By anticipating to the different motives of people for buying a certain type of car (new technology, less fuel costs, pro-environment, independence from foreign oil); (3) By making the green cars not to cheap (although this sounds like a paradox), because in the introduction phase the early adopters of these cars buy them because they are expensive and therefore exclusive. The authors also discuss the role of the Dutch government. For national governments it is often difficult to influence (purchase) behavior of individuals directly. The help of intermediate actors (such as car manufacturers, car dealers and local governments) is needed as well.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Abstract used by permission of Association for European Transport.
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Corporate Authors:
Association for European Transport (AET)
1 Vernon Mews, Vernon Street, West Kensington
London W14 0RL, -
Authors:
- Berveling, Jaco
- van de Riet, Odette
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Conference:
- European Transport Conference 2012
- Location: Glasgow , Scotland
- Date: 2012-10-8 to 2012-10-10
- Publication Date: 2012
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Bibliography; Figures; Photos;
- Pagination: 15p
- Monograph Title: European Transport Conference 2012
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Behavior; Decision making; Environmental impacts; Policy; Sustainable transportation; Taxes; Vehicle fleets
- Geographic Terms: Netherlands
- Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01542568
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Oct 29 2014 11:27AM