UX Process

The study found that men and women approach buying a plug-in car differently. Whereas women were very conservative when it came to range, and viewed a dashboard range estimate as untrustworthy, men viewed it as a challenge, pushing the limits of their estimated range. In the focus groups, women talked about managing existing conditions, accomplishing immediate travel needs, and the benefits of home charging. Men, on the other hand, viewed electric cars as a science project, and were more interested in the future of the technology and the potential of fast-charging stations.

The female focus-group participants’ interest in home charging jibes with statistics that say women are more likely to work at home or close to home than men, or do more non-work driving, such as running errands. This pattern is more suited to the capabilities of current electric cars, which tend to have short ranges, and are sometimes tethered to an owner’s home charging station by a lack of public stations. Yet women are in the minority when it comes to plug-in car purchases. In California – probably the most green-car-friendly state – women account for only 29 percent of Nissan LEAF, 24 percent of Chevrolet Volt, and 16 percent of Tesla Model S purchases and leases.

In other words, women buy practical cars and men buy on looks (and performance). Volkswagen says that in the New Beetle generation (1998-2011), men purchased 24 percent of coupes (women purchased 76 percent) and 29 percent of the convertibles (women purchased 71 percent). The current generation's numbers show that coupe and convertible sales break out about the same by gender, with women purchasing 65 percent and men 35 percent.