This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: For many customers, choosing an electric vehicle (EV) is an environmentally conscious choice. But sustainability doesn't end at the showroom.
It also extends to the choices people make while owning and operating their vehicles. For an EV, this can mean making informed choices about energy-efficient driving, environmentally responsible repairs and battery support. Some of these practices can be supported through green EV insurance.
However, customers may find it difficult to verify insurers' environmental claims before purchasing a policy, making it harder to judge whether the insurance offers genuine environmental value. Researchers from Sophia University in Japan examined customer attitudes toward green EV insurance in China, the world's largest EV market, where new energy vehicle ownership reached 36.89 million by June 2025. Led by professor Xuepeng Qian of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies at Sophia University, the study found that customers were more likely to consider purchasing green EV insurance when they viewed the policies and their environmental benefits positively.
The study was co-authored by graduate students Yimeng Zheng and Zhao Chen, both affiliated with the same university. This paper was published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. "Sustainable consumption should extend beyond buying an EV to decisions about driving, repairs and insurance.
Since consumers cannot easily verify insurance's environmental value before purchase, we wanted to understand how they interpret and trust environmental claims and how these shape their purchase intentions," says Qian. For green EV insurance, government policies promoting green insurance and insurance companies' environmental claims may influence customers' intentions to purchase a policy. In their study, the researchers collectively refer to these as "green signals." They examined how these signals relate to customers' views of green insurance (attitude), trust in its environmental claims (green trust), perceptions of whether its benefits justify the cost (green perceived value), feelings of encouragement from others to purchase it (subjective norm) and perceived ability to do so (perceived behavioral control).
They also examined whether customers' sensitivity to price and concern about climate change influenced how they responded to this information. To investigate these relationships, the researchers conducted an online survey of EV owners in China. Participants rated statements about green signals, their perceptions of green EV insurance and their intention to purchase it using a five-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
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