Abstract
The current energy crisis is worsening worldwide, and in China, urban expansion and per capita vehicle ownership have created a growing energy imbalance and increased pressure to reduce carbon emissions.The popularization of new energy vehicles (NEVs) can provide a step forward to solving energy shortage problems, environmental pollution, and global warming. In 2022, the average penetration rate, which is ratio of new energy vehicle sales to vehicle sales, is just 19.1 %. This paper analysed the reasons for the differences in the penetration rates of new energy vehicles in China's 269 prefecture-level cities, using a Geo Detector approach, and the results showed that the level of economic development, the average annual temperature difference, the density of charging piles, the charging price and the number of population all had significant effects(q＞0.12) on the penetration rate. Based on the above studies, a questionnaire was used to investigate the public's acceptance of new energy vehicles in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and a PLS-SEM regression analysis was conducted. The results showed that men, young people and people with a certain level of basic education were 5 % more likely to accept new energy vehicles.Unlike previous studies, perceived cost had no significant correlation with the acceptance of new energy vehicles. Perceived risk had a significant negative correlation with the acceptance of new energy vehicles,the path coefficient is -0.1.The acceptance of new energy vehicles was significantly and positively correlated with vehicle quality and service, the public's understanding of new energy vehicles, and subjective norms, their average path coefficients are above 0.1. We argues that the government should maintain a certain level of promotion of new energy vehicles and accelerate the construction of charging piles, based on the aforementioned results.