Individual and group preferences of water taxi owners for electric outboard engines

This paper investigates individual and collective preferences of water taxi owners regarding electric outboard engines and batteries in the Galápagos Islands. The study addresses a gap in the literature on clean maritime transportation and deploys a novel mixed-method approach, using qualitative methods to complement discrete choice experiments. Results from mixed logit models and focus groups reveal a preference for smaller, lighter electric systems that can both provide similar speed and power to internal combustion counterparts while avoiding economic loss or excessive costs to service providers. Water taxi owners on different islands arrived at different collective preferences for charging infrastructure, thus illustrating the relevance of local context, and the importance of the participation of local actors in the successful design of systems and strategies facilitating maritime transport decarbonization. Additionally, identified instruments to reduce uncertainties and proposed subsidies offer practical considerations for accelerating the transition from internal combustion engines to electric propulsion.