The transition towards electric vehicles is likely to play a crucial role in society meeting its climate change obligations.  A recent study from the University of Cambridge illustrates the value to the transition of promoting the health and social justice aspects of the technology.

“The social justice and welfare dimensions are critical to this technology’s success,” the researchers say. “Effective communication of social and health benefits of EV ownership can be a motivating factor for influencing higher EV uptake.”

The researchers analyzed Facebook postings made in the United States that were related to electric vehicles.  The analysis was conducted based on the PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) framework to help the researchers understand the intersection of words and phrases.

“Social media offers a treasure trove of information to better understand how the public views the energy transition from carbon-emitting internal combustion engine to EVs,” the researchers explain. “We used machine learning and social network analysis to identify via Facebook posts what aspects people valued in electric vehicles, and found that social justice, clean air, better health and a shift toward EVs becoming a service industry emerging as key themes.”

Social values

The findings revealed that social justice was a common theme throughout the postings.  There was a strong notion that electric vehicles are a technology that benefits everyone, with environmental benefits, such as less pollution and cleaner air, translating into better health for everyone.  This, in turn, led to a greater desire for state support to make the technology affordable.

“While governments around the world have launched aggressive targets for EVs, increasingly through regulatory measures rather than direct subsidies, there has been little academic research into the drivers of EV adoption. This new study helps fill that knowledge gap, and can be a useful tool for energy policymaking in this vital area,” the researchers explain.

When breaking down the various comments, the political posts tended to be concerned with things like taxation and subsidies of EVs.  Economics posts were more focused on consumer fees and the overall market for EVs, whereas social-related posts examined things like job creation and investment.

By contrast, the technology-related posts focused in on areas such as battery technology and charging stations, while both legal-oriented and environment-oriented posts were looking at societal issues, such as sustainability and climate change.

The researchers hope that their findings will help to guide EV manufacturers as they begin to roll out the technology on a larger scale by providing an insight into the various ways in which the public are currently viewing the technology.