EDA scale - Assessing awareness for energy dynamics

Energy-related behavior in resource dependent systems (e.g. electric vehicles, houses, ships) is an important factor for the actual energy efficiency such systems can achieve. Energy feedback human-machine-interfaces (HMIs) can support the awareness of energy dynamics in order to comprehend the situation and the influences on energy consumption and to control the system to enhance energy efficiency. To evaluate these HMIs, a scale to assess the energy dynamics awareness (EDA) is needed. Therefore, we developed the EDA scale with 7 items and tested the scale in a study with N = 40 battery electric bus (BEB) drivers on two different HMIs. First results indicated an excellent reliability (Cronbach’s α = .92 and .93) and principal factor analyses revealed a solid single factor structure (61.8% and 67.8% explained variance) with high factor loadings (> .61 for all items). Future studies should further explore the construct and criterion validity of the scale.