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Plugging in the Consumer Case Analysis Essay

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“PLUGGING IN” THE CONSUMER: THE ADOPTION OF ELECTRICALLY POWERED VEHICLES IN THE US INTRODUCTION U.S. consumer interest in non-fossil fuel vehicles is relatively positive. There are several issues that American faced about fossil fuel such as pollution, dependency on oil imports, concerns of how long fossil fuel supply will be worn-out and especially fluctuation of foreign-oil prices and the more expensive cost of fuel for American household. Some actions have been taken both by the policy maker such as formed an air pollution control department to reduce smog (in the City of Los Angeles, CA) and passed the Clean Air Act in 1970. Those efforts already reduced the car emission by more than 95%. The car manufacturer also took action by …show more content…

2 The News & Observer, John Murawski, 7 March 2011, All-electric Nissan Leaf makes Raleigh debut. Page 3 of 8 Pages IDEA GENERATION, SCREENING AND EVALUATION A number of different powertrain technologies held promise for lowering emission and increasing fuel economy such as: EV and fuel cell. Fuel cell is the most efficient powertrain among other. However, it also still has technological challenge such as bulky and expensive hydrogen-storage system, durability of fuel-cell system, the lack of infrastructure for producing, transporting and dispensing hydrogen to customers and also the high price of FCV compare to another option. With those issues, there is no intersection between the three components (Benefit, Form and Technology) that will come out as feasible potential new products. As the result, FCV-drivetrain technology will likely require another technology generation before it arrives. EVs are a prominent innovation. The pre-order of Nissan Leaf in the US was successful. About 20,000 limited U.S. models to be released this year have already been claimed in preregistrations. With the price tag of 32,780 and consumers can get a $7,500 federal tax credit, bringing the cost to $25,280. It will still become too pricey. However, the day-to-day energy savings appears to be the great allure with Leaf drivers3. Moreover, EVs experience a market adoption problem, to move from early adopters to mainstream buyers. In consumer’s perspective, EVs must

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