Category: Knowledge

POWERING ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT

We have worked on a number of projects to help our automotive clients address the many challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to electric vehicle ownership.

CHALLENGE

For many years the automotive industry has been making a slow, steady transition away from traditional petrol and diesel vehicles and towards alternative, renewable energy options.  The mainstream move to change kicked off as far back as 1997, when the Toyota Prius became the first mass produced hybrid engine car.

Our client came to us in 2016, knowing that the pace of change was speeding up, but still not certain as to where the market might end up or how it was going to get there.  Would full electric lead the way? Would there be a breakthrough in hydrogen technology? How and when might consumer choice influence the direction of travel?  What would be the main catalysts for change, the barriers to overcome and motivations that could encourage customer demand?

Customer research was needed to inform the pace and nature of change that the business needed to make, ensuring that that change could be closely aligned to customer needs and expectations and stimulate the demand needed to deliver commercial success.

ACTION

In partnership with our client we designed a tracking study that would stand the test of time, providing flexibility in terms of both survey content and analysis opportunities.  Just as well as it’s now been delivering insight to their business for 6 years!

Initially covering 8 markets and 13 passenger vehicle segments the project recently expanded to include compact, medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles in 5 of those markets.

A combination of traditional awareness, knowledge, interest and consideration questions, combined with our Thoughtscape approach, enables us to measure standard metrics and at the same time assess what drives buyer behaviour at a more spontaneous, emotional level.

OUTCOME

Our research has guided our client’s business strategy for alternative fuel vehicle development, helping them to understand consumer barriers and motivations. They have developed communications strategies that inform and guide consumer choice, initiated product development work to ensure vehicles that are fit for an ‘ICE-free’ future and are able to understand and address the non-vehicle related issues that consumers face when moving to alternative fuels, particularly plug-in vehicles.

TRANSITION TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES

We have worked on a number of projects to help our automotive clients address the many challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to electric vehicle ownership.

Powering alternative fuel vehicle development

Electric vehicle ownership

Walk a mile in my shoes

WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES

CHALLENGE

Our clients, who were developing an electric vehicle (EV), wanted to understand the consumer reality of owning such a vehicle: what’s it’s like to live with an electric car, day-to-day?

They were conscious that those responsible for the design development were removed from the reality of everyday consumer needs – despite their technical understanding of the model.

There was a requirement to bridge this knowledge gap quickly and without the cost of a full-blown research project.

ACTION

Typically, for such a challenge, we would undertake an ethnographic approach. However, given that there was neither the time nor budget available for such a detailed study, we had to think laterally and look for a more immediate, low-cost alternative.

A member of the MMEYE team was actively considering buying an electric car. On the face of it, she’s an ideal target for the product under development: living in a London suburb and commuting into central London. She’s a frequent driver, looking for a small, city-style car to replace her current car. Hoping for something modern, fuel efficient and, ideally, eco-friendly, an electric car appears to be a perfect match. The only potential obstacle is that she lives in a flat, with no access to charging at home (a frequent problem for urban dwellers).

She hired a BMW i3 (with range extender) and took to the road. With a combination of everyday self-ethnography, and a day of professional video footage, she lived the EV ‘dream’, experiencing two weeks of ownership. She travelled and charged in different locations, testing the product to see how well it would meet her needs.

OUTCOME

Two weeks of experience were condensed into a six-minute video that allowed our client’s internal teams to be fully immersed in the world of EV ownership and walk a mile in the shoes of an EV “owner”.

The client reaction was immediate and positive. The video changed the assumptions and expectations that had underpinned the product development, forcing a change in perspective and providing an essential reality check.

The need to attract an urban customer and the reality that many of these would not be able to charge at home, combined with the complexity of charging elsewhere, demanded a refocus on the importance of EV range provision.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE OWNERSHIP

CHALLENGE

Consumer uptake of electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) is rapidly increasing, and external pressure on manufacturers to develop low-emission vehicles continues to mount.

However, there are still significant barriers to customer adoption of plug-in vehicles and in order to enable customer take-up manufacturers need to understand these barriers and make efforts to remove them.

Our client came to us seeking to uncover customer truths about the experiences and needs of these drivers.

ACTION

To get close to the customer in the most authentic way, we conducted in-car + in-home depth interviews, sharing the experience of EV/PHEV in real-life scenarios.

This allowed us to engage with the emotional and rational aspects of EV ownership, such as usage, charging and future expectations. Our work covered four markets: UK, USA, China and Netherlands.

OUTCOME

Through this qualitative research, we identified four specific customer types, representing the key motivations behind EV ownership. Insights were presented on film, highlighting the pain points of ownership, and the key positives that needed to be communicated to attract future customers.

Our client used these insights to enhance their EV/PHEV strategy, focusing product development plans on the ‘must have’ areas for future customers. Product development refocused to ensure they produced a functional, fast and beautiful EV that remained true to core brand values.