The role of environmental awareness and knowledge in the choice of a seated electric scooter

This paper presents a study aimed at estimating the role of latent variables when choosing between a seated electric scooter (SES) and a conventional one. As a modeling framework, we opted for the hybrid mixed choice model since it allows the possibility of jointly evaluating the impact of the economic and technical features of the scooter and latent factors on scooter choice, thus gaining a more realistic representation of the choice process. For the latent variables, we focused on concern for the environment and scooter knowledge. We developed a questionnaire specifically targeted at gathering data on choices and indicators capturing the latent variables and surveyed 413 respondents living in the city of Trieste, Italy, who were as diversified as possible in terms of age, education, and profession. The main finding was that besides various financial and technical scooter features (e.g., purchase price, fuel economy, annual cost of circulation tax and insurance premium, driving range, engine power, removable battery, and manufacturer’s country), a higher level of concern for the environment particularly at the local level positively influenced the choice of an SES, while SES knowledge did not play a statistically significant role.