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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Advanced Clean Fuel Technologies
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1415430

Driving towards Sustainability: Exploring Risk Perceptions of Fossil Fuels, E-Fuels, and Electric Drives in Individual Transport

Provisionally accepted
Eva Rößler Eva Rößler 1*Tim Schmeckel Tim Schmeckel 2Ute Kesselheim Ute Kesselheim 2Katrin Arning Katrin Arning 1
  • 1 Junior professorship for risk perception and communication, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
  • 2 RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The transportation sector is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions, necessitating the adoption of alternative drive technologies to achieve decarbonization. This study investigates public perceptions of fossil fuels, e-fuels, and electric drives, with the aim of identifying factors influencing risk perceptions, perceived efficacy in combating climate change, and readiness to use or purchase cars with these technologies. Therefore, a quantitative study using a questionnaire (N = 141) was conducted. The results indicate that e-fuels and electric drives are perceived more positively than fossil fuels. E-fuels were found to have the lowest risk perceptions. Differences in cognitive and affective risk perceptions, as well as in financial, environmental, and health-related risks, were observed across drive types. Car affinity was found to correlate positively with risk perceptions of efuels and fossil fuels, but negatively with electric drives. The risk perception of global warming showed an inverse relationship. Regarding the prediction of readiness, differences were found between e-fuels and electric drives in terms of the influencing factors on readiness. The study contributes to the understanding of public perceptions by providing a comparison between different drive technologies and offers valuable insights for developing targeted communication strategies.

    Keywords: E-fuels, Electric drives, Fossil Fuels, risk perceptions, sustainability, transport, Empirical social research, Quantitative survey

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 11 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Rößler, Schmeckel, Kesselheim and Arning. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Eva Rößler, Junior professorship for risk perception and communication, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.