October 22, 2024
Escalent data reveal gender differences in BEV purchasing behavior and familiarity, highlighting untapped potential for engaging female consumers
Battery electric vehicle (BEV) ownership, shopping and awareness are largely male-dominated, with men making up 71% of owners and 74% of shoppers and typically conducting more exploratory research throughout the purchasing process. Women start with lower familiarity of BEVs—only 30% are familiar compared with 55% of men—and report engaging in fewer research activities during their car-buying process. However, the research conducted by women carries greater weight in their final purchase decisions. This dynamic presents an opportunity for automakers, and especially dealerships, to close the gender confidence gap by serving as a trusted source of clear, reliable information for women throughout the BEV buying process.
This is according to new data from EVForward® by Escalent, the largest, most comprehensive study of the next generation of electric vehicle (EV) buyers, which reveals unprecedented insights into the attitudes, behaviors, demands and opinions of BEV shoppers.
Men and women report researching BEVs differently. Men are significantly more inclined to explore their options via online research (71% compared with 64% of women), videos (34% versus 27%), online forums (22% versus 15%) and vehicle-building tools on manufacturer websites (22% versus 17%). Women rely more heavily on in-person experiences, with 65% conducting test drives compared with 60% of men. However, women report having worse dealership experiences than men and not getting all the information they need from the dealership while shopping for a BEV. Women are also less adventurous with new technology and largely rely on what they are familiar with. With men largely ready to adopt BEVs, dealerships need to consider strategies to fill these gender gaps and better engage women to overcome these barriers to BEV adoption.
“A combination of factors is limiting BEV adoption for women,” said Nikki Stern, senior insights manager with Escalent’s Automotive & Mobility team. “Women are not only less familiar with BEVs and complete fewer research activities, but they are also less likely to know someone who owns a BEV. This limits their ability to hear about positive experiences, further slowing their consideration of BEV powertrains.”
Educational messages about BEVs resonate with shoppers. When evaluating different message types—such as technology, environmental, practicality and emotional messages—38% of new-car buyers favor educational content, which is nearly 20 percentage points higher than the second most preferred message group. This highlights the importance of clear, informative communication in helping new-car buyers better understand the benefits of BEVs and navigate their purchase decisions.
“Dealerships hold the key to effectively engaging female buyers and it’s critical they acknowledge the existing gaps. Women generally have a broader set of EV barriers than men, so they need additional and more nuanced information to feel comfortable and confident in buying one,” said K.C. Boyce, vice president with the Automotive & Mobility and Energy teams at Escalent. “Alongside the opportunity to enhance the dealership experience for female buyers—a recognized challenge—dealers must recognize that women generally approach EV purchases differently than men and tailor their strategies accordingly.”
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About EVForward®
The results reported come from Escalent’s EVForward database, a global sample of more than 50,000 new-vehicle buyers aged 18 to 80, weighted by age, gender and location to match the demographics of the new-vehicle buyer population and by vehicle segment to match current vehicle sales. The sample for this research comes from an opt-in, online panel. As such, any reported margins of error or significance tests are estimated and rely on the same statistical assumptions as data collected from a random probability sample. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.
