IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v139y2020ics0301421520300793.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of demonstration projects on electric vehicle diffusion: An empirical study in China

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Xiaoling
  • Sun, Xiaohua
  • Li, Mingshan
  • Zhai, Yu

Abstract

Despite the extensive use of demonstration projects, doubts remain on their effectiveness in promoting the commercialization of emerging technologies. To explore whether public demonstrations could stimulate innovation diffusion and to what extent the effects are, this paper conducted an empirical analysis of China's high-profile electric vehicle demonstration project based on a manually collected data set of 44 pilot cities from 2009 to 2015. The approach of difference-in-differences propensity score matching was used to address the selection bias of pilot cities, and the effects of demonstrating electric buses and electric commercial vehicles were further examined and discussed after a series of robustness check. The empirical results reveal that when controlling the impact of all policy incentives, the deployment of electric vehicles in the public sector has significantly stimulated the purchase of electric vehicles by individuals, especially in the pilot cities with more commercial vehicles, which provides new insights into the formulation of public procurement policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Xiaoling & Sun, Xiaohua & Li, Mingshan & Zhai, Yu, 2020. "The effects of demonstration projects on electric vehicle diffusion: An empirical study in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:139:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520300793
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111322
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421520300793
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111322?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hendry, Chris & Harborne, Paul & Brown, James, 2010. "So what do innovating companies really get from publicly funded demonstration projects and trials? innovation lessons from solar photovoltaics and wind," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4507-4519, August.
    2. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    3. Brown, James & Hendry, Chris, 2009. "Public demonstration projects and field trials: Accelerating commercialisation of sustainable technology in solar photovoltaics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2560-2573, July.
    4. Bossink, Bart A.G., 2017. "Demonstrating sustainable energy: A review based model of sustainable energy demonstration projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1349-1362.
    5. Dall'O', Giuliano & Bruni, Elisa & Sarto, Luca, 2013. "An Italian pilot project for zero energy buildings: Towards a quality-driven approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 840-846.
    6. Arne Martin Fevolden & Lars Coenen & Teis Hansen & Antje Klitkou, 2017. "The Role of Trials and Demonstration Projects in the Development of a Sustainable Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Sierzchula, William & Bakker, Sjoerd & Maat, Kees & van Wee, Bert, 2014. "The influence of financial incentives and other socio-economic factors on electric vehicle adoption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 183-194.
    8. Åhman, Max & Skjærseth, Jon Birger & Eikeland, Per Ove, 2018. "Demonstrating climate mitigation technologies: An early assessment of the NER 300 programme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 100-107.
    9. Liu, Xingmin & Ren, Hong & Wu, Yong & Kong, Deping, 2013. "An analysis of the demonstration projects for renewable energy application buildings in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 382-397.
    10. Scott, Vivian, 2013. "What can we expect from Europe's carbon capture and storage demonstrations?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 66-71.
    11. Hellsmark, Hans & Frishammar, Johan & Söderholm, Patrik & Ylinenpää, Håkan, 2016. "The role of pilot and demonstration plants in technology development and innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1743-1761.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Yiran & Zhao, Xiaolei & Lu, Dan & Li, Xiaomin, 2023. "Impact of policy incentives on the adoption of electric vehicle in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Qin, Shufeng & Xiong, Yongqing, 2022. "Innovation strategies of Chinese new energy vehicle enterprises under the influence of non-financial policies: Effects, mechanisms and implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    3. Wang, Yitong & Fan, Ruguo & Du, Kang & Bao, Xuguang, 2023. "Exploring incentives to promote electric vehicles diffusion under subsidy abolition: An evolutionary analysis on multiplex consumer social networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    4. Tao, Miaomiao & Wen, Le & Sheng, Mingyue Selena & Poletti, Stephen, 2024. "Appraising the role of energy conservation and emission reduction policy for eco-friendly productivity improvements: An entropy-balancing DID approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Bossink, Bart, 2020. "Learning strategies in sustainable energy demonstration projects: What organizations learn from sustainable energy demonstrations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Jiang, Zhangsheng & Xu, Chenghao, 2023. "Policy incentives, government subsidies, and technological innovation in new energy vehicle enterprises: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    7. Zhang, Qi & Liu, Jiangfeng & Yang, Kexin & Liu, Boyu & Wang, Ge, 2022. "Market adoption simulation of electric vehicle based on social network model considering nudge policies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    8. Pan, An & Zhang, Wenna & Shi, Xunpeng & Dai, Ling, 2022. "Climate policy and low-carbon innovation: Evidence from low-carbon city pilots in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    9. Connor Scott & Mominul Ahsan & Alhussein Albarbar, 2021. "Machine Learning Based Vehicle to Grid Strategy for Improving the Energy Performance of Public Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-22, April.
    10. Haessler, Philipp & Giones, Ferran & Brem, Alexander, 2023. "The who and how of commercializing emerging technologies: A technology-focused review," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Ma, Xiaolei & Miao, Ran & Wu, Xinkai & Liu, Xianglong, 2021. "Examining influential factors on the energy consumption of electric and diesel buses: A data-driven analysis of large-scale public transit network in Beijing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    12. Shi, Lei & Wu, Rongxin & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Where will go for electric vehicles in China after the government subsidy incentives are abolished? A controversial consumer perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    13. Manzolli, Jônatas Augusto & Trovão, João Pedro & Antunes, Carlos Henggeler, 2022. "A review of electric bus vehicles research topics – Methods and trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    14. Ayetor, G.K. & Mbonigaba, Innocent & Sunnu, Albert K. & Nyantekyi-Kwakye, Baafour, 2021. "Impact of replacing ICE bus fleet with electric bus fleet in Africa: A lifetime assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    15. Zhu, Xiaoxi & Chiong, Raymond & Wang, Miaomiao & Liu, Kai & Ren, Minglun, 2021. "Is carbon regulation better than cash subsidy? The case of new energy vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 170-192.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bossink, Bart, 2020. "Learning strategies in sustainable energy demonstration projects: What organizations learn from sustainable energy demonstrations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Bossink, Bart A.G., 2017. "Demonstrating sustainable energy: A review based model of sustainable energy demonstration projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1349-1362.
    3. Palage, Kristoffer & Lundmark, Robert & Söderholm, Patrik, 2019. "The impact of pilot and demonstration plants on innovation: The case of advanced biofuel patenting in the European Union," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 42-55.
    4. Grimm, Veronika & Kretschmer, Sandra & Mehl, Simon, 2020. "Green innovations: The organizational setup of pilot projects and its influence on consumer perceptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    5. Sofia Nordqvist & Johan Frishammar, 2019. "Knowledge types to progress the development of sustainable technologies: a case study of Swedish demonstration plants," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 75-95, March.
    6. Hedeler, Barbara & Lettner, Miriam & Stern, Tobias & Schwarzbauer, Peter & Hesser, Franziska, 2020. "Strategic decisions on knowledge development and diffusion at pilot and demonstration projects: An empirical mapping of actors, projects and strategies in the case of circular forest bioeconomy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    7. Söderholm, Patrik & Hellsmark, Hans & Frishammar, Johan & Hansson, Julia & Mossberg, Johanna & Sandström, Annica, 2019. "Technological development for sustainability: The role of network management in the innovation policy mix," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 309-323.
    8. Arne Martin Fevolden & Lars Coenen & Teis Hansen & Antje Klitkou, 2017. "The Role of Trials and Demonstration Projects in the Development of a Sustainable Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    9. Hellsmark, Hans & Frishammar, Johan & Söderholm, Patrik & Ylinenpää, Håkan, 2016. "The role of pilot and demonstration plants in technology development and innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1743-1761.
    10. Befort, N., 2020. "Going beyond definitions to understand tensions within the bioeconomy: The contribution of sociotechnical regimes to contested fields," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    11. Wang, Nan & Akimoto, Keigo & Nemet, Gregory F., 2021. "What went wrong? Learning from three decades of carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) pilot and demonstration projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. Bolwig, Simon & Bazbauers, Gatis & Klitkou, Antje & Lund, Peter D. & Blumberga, Andra & Gravelsins, Armands & Blumberga, Dagnija, 2019. "Review of modelling energy transitions pathways with application to energy system flexibility," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 440-452.
    13. Haessler, Philipp & Giones, Ferran & Brem, Alexander, 2023. "The who and how of commercializing emerging technologies: A technology-focused review," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    14. Rizzi, Francesco & van Eck, Nees Jan & Frey, Marco, 2014. "The production of scientific knowledge on renewable energies: Worldwide trends, dynamics and challenges and implications for management," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 657-671.
    15. Michaela Kesselring & Frank Wagner & Moritz Kirsch & Leila Ajjabou & Richard Gloaguen, 2020. "Development of Sustainable Test Sites for Mineral Exploration and Knowledge Spillover for Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Åhman, Max & Skjærseth, Jon Birger & Eikeland, Per Ove, 2018. "Demonstrating climate mitigation technologies: An early assessment of the NER 300 programme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 100-107.
    17. Zheng, Xuemei & Menezes, Flavio & Zheng, Xiaofeng & Wu, Chengkuan, 2022. "An empirical assessment of the impact of subsidies on EV adoption in China: A difference-in-differences approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 121-136.
    18. Turnheim, Bruno & Geels, Frank W., 2019. "Incumbent actors, guided search paths, and landmark projects in infra-system transitions: Re-thinking Strategic Niche Management with a case study of French tramway diffusion (1971–2016)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1412-1428.
    19. Hendry, Chris & Harborne, Paul, 2011. "Changing the view of wind power development: More than "bricolage"," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 778-789, June.
    20. Polzin, Friedemann & von Flotow, Paschen & Klerkx, Laurens, 2016. "Addressing barriers to eco-innovation: Exploring the finance mobilisation functions of institutional innovation intermediaries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 34-46.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:139:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520300793. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.