Men generally want speed, acceleration, style. Women want there to be a planet when their children grow up. That’s pretty much the findings of a University of Sussex study into who will buy electric vehicles and why, writes BRENDAN MONTAGUE

A rapid and comprehensive transition to electric mobility will require a combination of technological, regulatory, institutional, economic, cultural and behavioural changes that together transform the sociotechnical systems that provide energy or mobility services.

More focused marketing of electric cars to women could be more effective in creating the required revolution away from more polluting vehicles than universal government intervention, a new study has said.

Highly educated women are an untapped but potentially lucrative market for electric vehicle sales because they have greater environmental and fuel efficiency awareness than men, says a new study by researchers at the University of Sussex and Aarhus University in Denmark.

The research also recommends the newly retired be targeted for electric vehicle promotion, even though they as a group have less interest in more environmentally friendly vehicles. Pensioners have high car ownership, drive short distances, have high budgets for car purchases and are less interested in design – all characteristics that could make them ideal electric vehicle owners.

Read more: The Ecologist