The role of demand-side incentives and charging infrastructure on plug-in electric vehicle adoption: analysis of US States

In the US, over 400 state and local incentives have been issued to increase the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) since 2008. This article quantifies the influence of key incentives and enabling factors like charging infrastructure and receptive demographics on PEV adoption. The study foc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental research letters 2018-07, Vol.13 (7), p.74032
Main Authors: Narassimhan, Easwaran, Johnson, Caley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
battery electric vehicles
BEV
Charging
charging infrastructure
consumer behavior
Demography
Driving
Electric vehicles
ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
Gasoline
Highways
Hybrid electric vehicles
Incentives
Infrastructure
PEV adoption
PEVs
PHEV
plug-in electric vehicles
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
public charging infrastructure
range anxiety
state and local incentives
sustainable transportation
Tax incentives
Taxation
technology adoption
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Summary:In the US, over 400 state and local incentives have been issued to increase the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) since 2008. This article quantifies the influence of key incentives and enabling factors like charging infrastructure and receptive demographics on PEV adoption. The study focuses on three central questions. First, do consumers respond to certain types of state level vehicle purchase incentives? Second, does the density of public charging infrastructure increase PEV purchases? Finally, does the impact of various factors differ for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), battery electric vehicles (BEV) and vehicle attributes within each category? Based on a regression of vehicle purchase data from 2008-2016, we found that tax incentives and charging infrastructure significantly influence per capita PEV purchases. Within tax incentives, rebates are generally more effective than tax credits. BEV purchases are more affected by tax incentives than PHEVs. The correlation of public charging and vehicle purchases increases with the battery-only driving range of a PHEV, while decreasing with increasing driving range of BEVs. Results indicate that early investments in charging infrastructure, particularly along highways; tax incentives targeting affordable BEVs and PHEVs with higher battery only range, and better reflection of the environmental cost of owning gasoline vehicles are likely to increase PEV adoption in the US.
ISSN:1748-9326
1748-9326
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/aad0f8