How to Reduce Environmental Impacts and Achieve Sustainability: Exploring Electric Car Adoption Through a Hybrid Approach

To reduce negative environmental impacts, achieve sustainable development goals, meet international commitments, and support the green consumerism trend, the automotive sector has significantly increased its efforts towards the field of electric cars (ECs). The conventional transportation system reliant on fossil fuels has adversely affected human lives and the surrounding environment via carbon emissions; in this sense, the adoption of ECs is considered the optimal approach for mitigating transportation emissions. Despite the government initiatives for sustainable mobility, there is a vast disparity between the adoption of electric two and four-wheeler passenger vehicles in several Asian countries. Considering the above, our study intends to assess the psychographic orientation of potential car buyers in India by utilising the hybrid SEM-ANN approach. Our study draws insights from 611 heterogeneous survey responses collected from potential car buyers in India. The novelty lies in developing a conceptual model to explicitly assess different dimensions of EC adoption intentions integrating psychological and technology acceptance theories (TPB, UTAUT, DOI). The empirical research outcomes showed a significant positive influence of performance expectancy, hedonic motivation and attitude on consumers' behavioral intention to adopt EC, followed by trialability, societal influence, image, and effort expectancy, in addition to a negative impact of perceived risk. The study offers actionable insights encompassing theoretical, methodological, managerial and policy implications for promoting sustainable transportation in several markets. A synergistic endeavour of government and business would help engage prospective consumers and create an ecosystem conducive to ECs.