Survey about Ownership of Older EVs

Hello Everyone,

Aside from being a proud owner of a 2011 Nissan Leaf, I am a graduate student (@ UC Davis) who is conducting a Marketing Research Project that is focused on the ownership experience of older BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles).

The most important part of my project is to request for insights from current & former BEV drivers.

1) If you could spare 10-15 minutes of your time, I would like to kindly invite you to complete the following survey:

https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ekAjql161ExJmqV

2) If you feel inclined to do so, please feel free to share the link to as many BEV owners that you know.

Thank you in advance for both your time and support.

[Note: I believe the survey will only stay open until the end of this Sunday (PST))

~Tony

Define "owner" and does past "ownership" count?

LeftieBiker said:

Define "owner" and does past "ownership" count?

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Great question!

Yes. Past owners count as well.

TonyB85 said:

LeftieBiker said:

Define "owner" and does past "ownership" count?

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Great question!

Yes. Past owners count as well.

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I forgot to answer your first question:

Ownership = Leased or purchsed

Ok, I'll look at it later tonight.

Thanks for the "chance" to win a gift card. There's a "chance" I answered the questions honestly. :lol:

Not a bad survey but note to others it's about someone starting up a battery "swapping" company, it's not just a survey for survey sake. Note I'm not against this and might even be interested in it for my '12 which currently only has 8 bars and has a range around 50 miles on a good day, it would be nice to get back up to its original 70+ miles. Survey took me 20+ minutes and to participate in the chance to win $20 Amazon gift card you need to provide name and email address(understandable IMO) otherwise no real personal information is needed to complete the survey.
Personally I'd probably not regularly swap my battery once new batteries were installed, I'd just pay the monthly fee, if the replacements started to degrade I'd at that time take it in for a swap, I'd still continue to charge at home or work, not swap the batteries to get fully charged batteries, for example on the go.
Oh and an important caveat for those who might care and miss it, using this technology it sounds like you will no longer have use of your QC port, IOW no QC'ing, your only option for a quick "charge" would be a swap of the batteries for a cost that IMO is cheaper than any paid QC option I've ever seen. Because of this high QC cost and lack of availability of QC stations in my city, I basically never QC charge anyway so for me this caveat is a moot point
I've heard they do this battery swapping thing in other countries, GB for sure, interesting to see it might be coming to this side of the pond.
Just taking this survey I feel I know quite a bit more about battery swapping than I did before so again I feel it was worth the time.

jjeff said:

Not a bad survey but note to others it's about someone starting up a battery "swapping" company, it's not just a survey for survey sake.

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Taking OP at his word, this is a student exercise in marketing. There is no hidden agenda.

SageBrush said:

jjeff said:

Not a bad survey but note to others it's about someone starting up a battery "swapping" company, it's not just a survey for survey sake.

Click to expand...

Taking OP at his word, this is a student exercise in marketing. There is no hidden agenda.

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Interesting, again not that I find anything wrong if it were someone looking into opening up such business, I personally think it might find a niche. Lots of older BEVs(Leafs for sure) that are in perfect condition other than a battery that might not meet peoples driving needs. As an owner of such a Leaf I could look at purchasing a new Leaf for hundreds of dollars/month(granted with a range several times my Leaf even with a new battery) or as the survey talks about $150/month to get the range back to new.......gives a person options.....

jjeff said:

SageBrush said:

jjeff said:

Not a bad survey but note to others it's about someone starting up a battery "swapping" company, it's not just a survey for survey sake.

Click to expand...

Taking OP at his word, this is a student exercise in marketing. There is no hidden agenda.

Click to expand...

Interesting, again not that I find anything wrong if it were someone looking into opening up such business, I personally think it might find a niche. Lots of older BEVs(Leafs for sure) that are in perfect condition other than a battery that might not meet peoples driving needs. As an owner of such a Leaf I could look at purchasing a new Leaf for hundreds of dollars/month(granted with a range several times my Leaf even with a new battery) or as the survey talks about $150/month to get the range back to new.......gives a person options.....

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Thank you everyone for your support in the form of taking the survey.

I am an MBA student who is also passionate about the continuous improvement of the BEV solution. I do not work for (or plan to) work for any of the big vehicle manufacturers. I really just want to be able to drive my 2011 Nissan Leaf anywhere I want to (i.e. a 400 mile drive to Southern California) at a reasonable time frame. More so, every BEV driver should be able to do the same.

To be specific, this survey is for my Marketing Research class. Instead of choosing a generic (or worse, lame) topic to study, I figured I would pursue a topic that I actually care about.

Although I am working on the technical solution on the side (a very slow progress BTW), using my MBA classes as great opportunities to study the business side of the solution is equally as important.

Going back to the survey, when I first started the course, I told my professor that I would get at least 200 responses because the EV community is a group of very passionate people who care about a noble cause.

Currently, the survey turnout still has a ways to go to meet my target, but I think "with your support" I will be able to impress my professor with the dedication (via turnout) of the EV community.

Cheers!

You thought you had caught OP in a deceit and you are very likely wrong. Admit it, apologize, and move on.

SageBrush said:

You thought you had caught OP in a deceit and you are very likely wrong. Admit it, apologize, and move on.

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Let's try not to tell everyone what others are thinking. There is nothing wrong with telling people thinking about taking a longish survey that it may have a marketing aspect. That isn't by itself hostile.

My take on the survey is that the assumptions - especially the financial ones - are too rosy. Since this about a hypothetical battery swapping business that isn't a big deal, but if the actual costs were substantially higher than listed, then the participation rate in such a service would be quite a bit lower.