Industry 5.0 meets Sustainability: Demographic drivers of battery electric vehicle adoption in Chinese Guangdong Province in transition to cleaner energy transportation

Jamin Kun Peng Xia, Louis Yong Yu Lee and Daisy Mui Hung Kee

Energy Policy, 2025, vol. 205, issue C

Abstract: China is leading the world in Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) adoption, making it a key player in the global transition to clean energy transportation. Keeping up with the ever-changing BEV industry is a high-stakes challenge, particularly as demographic factors influence consumer behavior and adoption patterns. This study investigates how demographic elements, such as education, income, age, and gender, are associated with environmental awareness, BEV awareness, and purchase intention in Guangdong Province, a national leader in BEV infrastructure and adoption. Based on 300 survey responses, our finding reveals that charging infrastructure (42 %) and battery technology (40 %) are key technological priorities among consumers. Education and income are positively related to both BEV awareness and purchase intention, while younger consumers show a stronger intent to adopt BEVs than older groups. Gender differences also emerge, with men reporting higher purchase intention. Environmental awareness shows a positive association with both BEV awareness and intention, suggesting a link between sustainability values and mobility choices. This study fills a significant gap in the literature by incorporating socio-economic diversity into BEV adoption. Framed within the Industry 5.0 paradigm, our findings offer new insights into how human-centric, inclusive transitions may be facilitated through demographically informed policy and market strategies.

Keywords: Clean energy; Transportation; Battery electric vehicle; Industry 5.0; Demographics; Environmental awareness; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421525001971
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:205:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525001971

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114690

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().