Should Plug-in Vehicles be bundled with Other Products and Services?

Some of the recent research emerging in the plug-in vehicle field shows that consumers tend to be the most open to consider a plug-in vehicle during times of instability in their lives. Moving house, changing job, having the first child are transition points when people tend to revaluate how they live their lives and if any fundamental changes are needed. Conversely, when people are “stuck in a grove” and are happy to have everything stay as it is then they’d be much less likely to think about altering their personal travel behaviour. These transition points do not happen very often and so its important to make them count.

Trying to get the most behavioural change for a single intervention would help to maximise the benefit of these transition points. This concept leads us nicely into considering if plug-in vehicles can be combined with other goods and services that may prove complementary. We’ve already alluded to early in this blog how plug-in vehicles can be sold in combination with an electricity tariff that may source its electricity from renewable/green generation or provide much cheaper rates during the night when the EV can be scheduled to recharge. Are there any other goods or services that can be combined with plug-in vehicles that share similar themes? I can think of a whole spectrum including combination boilers, cavity wall insulation and home compositing but there is one that, to me, stands out from the crowd.

One of the defining characteristics of a plug-in vehicle is the ability to achieve some form of energy independence and shake off the shackles of big oil. This feeling can be very liberating for consumers opting for a plug-in vehicle and helps distinguish them from their fellow drivers. Pushing this frontier yet further is the desire of some to go “off grid” achieving total energy independence. Photovoltaic Tiles are becoming much more affordable and can greatly assist in achieving this off grid objective. Linked with a plug-in vehicle a consumer can boast about how they are not only independent of big oil but also independent of fossil fuels.

Having a “solar car” may be a step too far for more conservative consumers looking for a more incremental change but some drivers may enjoy the combination of a plug-in vehicle with a solar array for their roofs. By combining these two complementary products together into a package it means the consumer only has to make one “decision journey” rather than two, decreasing the mental effort required and hopefully increasing uptake.