Millennials committed to EV solution
More than three quarters of millennials say they believe driving an eco-friendly car is the best way to make their lives more environmentally friendly.
A study from Nissan European found that 76 per cent of 2,500 millennials (aged 18-34) questioned said driving a green car was the single biggest difference they could make to the environment.
The survey of millennials across the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain found that their main concerns aren’t smaller scale issues like recycling (24 per cent) or overflowing landfills (14 per cent), but global issues such as climate change (53 per cent) and air pollution (42 per cent).
As such they are willing to make bold changes such as switching to an energy provider dedicated to eco-friendly solutions (62 per cent), or supporting brands that are committed to being more environmentally friendly (53 per cent).
Gareth Dunsmore, director of electric vehicles, Nissan Europe, said, ‘We’ve always known that millennials are the challenger generation but our European study has also revealed that they’re the future ‘change-makers’ – willing to make drastic lifestyle choices to make a meaningful difference to the world they live in. It gives me immeasurable hope to see that millennials believe electric vehicles, such as the Nissan LEAF and e-NV200 that are already on the road today, are part of the solution for a more sustainable future. As an industry we must work harder to engage the interests and needs of this group.’
Sarwant Singh, senior partner, Frost & Sullivan and member of Nissan’s Intelligent Motoring Advisory Board, added, ‘The millennial demographic surveyed here has the potential to be hugely influential in determining the future of transport and sustainability. We have consistently found in our own research that they are early adopters of new technology, much more environmentally friendly than previous generations and generally willing to make sacrifices and lifestyle changes in line with their personal values and beliefs.’
Perhaps surprisingly, the majority of millennials surveyed owned a car (77 per cent). Although they might not be driving electric vehicles now, they are in the market for future driving technology with nearly two out of three likely to buy a hybrid car in the next 10 years, and over half saying they would buy an electric car in that time span.
