IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v161y2022ics0301421521006182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of incentives for greener battery electric vehicle charging – A field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Kacperski, Celina
  • Ulloa, Roberto
  • Klingert, Sonja
  • Kirpes, Benedikt
  • Kutzner, Florian

Abstract

Battery electric vehicles generate a significant share of their greenhouse gas emissions during production and later, when in use, through the energy used for charging. A shift in charging behavior could substantially reduce emissions if aligned with the fluctuating availability of renewable energy. Financial incentives and environmental appeals have been discussed as potential means to achieve this. We report evidence from a randomized controlled trial in which cost-free and “green” charging was advertised via email notifications to customers of a charging service provider. Emails invited to charge during midday hours (11:00 to 15:00) of days with high predicted shares of renewable energy. Results show a significant increase in the number of charging processes in the critical time, and in the amount of energy charged (kWh), despite only marginal monetary savings of 5€ on average. A further increase in kWh charged was observed on weekends. Under the assumption that these charging processes replaced regular overnight charging at home, this represents reduction in CO2 emissions of over 50%.

Suggested Citation

  • Kacperski, Celina & Ulloa, Roberto & Klingert, Sonja & Kirpes, Benedikt & Kutzner, Florian, 2022. "Impact of incentives for greener battery electric vehicle charging – A field experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:161:y:2022:i:c:s0301421521006182
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112752
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421521006182
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112752?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. Bo Tranberg & Olivier Corradi & Bruno Lajoie & Thomas Gibon & Iain Staffell & Gorm Bruun Andresen, 2018. "Real-Time Carbon Accounting Method for the European Electricity Markets," Papers 1812.06679, arXiv.org, revised May 2019.
    2. Jenn, Alan & Lee, Jae Hyun & Hardman, Scott & Tal, Gil, 2020. "An in-depth examination of electric vehicle incentives: Consumer heterogeneity and changing response over time," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 97-109.
    3. Rubino, Luigi & Capasso, Clemente & Veneri, Ottorino, 2017. "Review on plug-in electric vehicle charging architectures integrated with distributed energy sources for sustainable mobility," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 438-464.
    4. Motoaki, Yutaka & Shirk, Matthew G., 2017. "Consumer behavioral adaption in EV fast charging through pricing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 178-183.
    5. Mizobuchi, Kenichi & Takeuchi, Kenji, 2013. "The influences of financial and non-financial factors on energy-saving behaviour: A field experiment in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 775-787.
    6. Yang, Christopher, 2013. "A framework for allocating greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation to plug-in electric vehicle charging," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 722-732.
    7. García-Villalobos, J. & Zamora, I. & San Martín, J.I. & Asensio, F.J. & Aperribay, V., 2014. "Plug-in electric vehicles in electric distribution networks: A review of smart charging approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 717-731.
    8. Robinson, A.P. & Blythe, P.T. & Bell, M.C. & Hübner, Y. & Hill, G.A., 2013. "Analysis of electric vehicle driver recharging demand profiles and subsequent impacts on the carbon content of electric vehicle trips," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 337-348.
    9. Schneider, Susan M & Sanguinetti, Angela, 2021. "Positive reinforcement is just the beginning: Associative learning principles for energy efficiency and climate sustainability," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt02n7j1cn, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    10. Ingeborgrud, Lina & Ryghaug, Marianne, 2019. "The role of practical, cognitive and symbolic factors in the successful implementation of battery electric vehicles in Norway," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 507-516.
    11. Wu, Yang Andrew & Ng, Artie W. & Yu, Zichao & Huang, Jie & Meng, Ke & Dong, Z.Y., 2021. "A review of evolutionary policy incentives for sustainable development of electric vehicles in China: Strategic implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    12. Yael Parag & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2016. "Electricity market design for the prosumer era," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(4), pages 1-6, April.
    13. Kelly L. Haws & William O. Bearden, 2006. "Dynamic Pricing and Consumer Fairness Perceptions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(3), pages 304-311, October.
    14. Mart van der Kam & Annemijn Peters & Wilfried van Sark & Floor Alkemade, 2019. "Agent-Based Modelling of Charging Behaviour of Electric Vehicle Drivers," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 22(4), pages 1-7.
    15. Kwon, Yeongmin & Son, Sanghoon & Jang, Kitae, 2018. "Evaluation of incentive policies for electric vehicles: An experimental study on Jeju Island," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 404-412.
    16. Xu, Min & Meng, Qiang & Liu, Kai & Yamamoto, Toshiyuki, 2017. "Joint charging mode and location choice model for battery electric vehicle users," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 68-86.
    17. Li, Wenbo & Long, Ruyin & Chen, Hong & Geng, Jichao, 2017. "A review of factors influencing consumer intentions to adopt battery electric vehicles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 318-328.
    18. Haupt, Leon & Schöpf, Michael & Wederhake, Lars & Weibelzahl, Martin, 2020. "The influence of electric vehicle charging strategies on the sizing of electrical energy storage systems in charging hub microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    19. Abdul-Manan, Amir F.N., 2015. "Uncertainty and differences in GHG emissions between electric and conventional gasoline vehicles with implications for transport policy making," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-7.
    20. Schmidt, Marc & Staudt, Philipp & Weinhardt, Christof, 2020. "Evaluating the importance and impact of user behavior on public destination charging of electric vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    21. Møller, Niels Framroze & Andersen, Laura Mørch & Hansen, Lars Gårn & Jensen, Carsten Lynge, 2019. "Can pecuniary and environmental incentives via SMS messaging make households adjust their electricity demand to a fluctuating production?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1050-1058.
    22. Hunt Allcott & Richard L. Sweeney, 2017. "The Role of Sales Agents in Information Disclosure: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(1), pages 21-39, January.
    23. Dallinger, David & Wietschel, Martin, 2012. "Grid integration of intermittent renewable energy sources using price-responsive plug-in electric vehicles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 3370-3382.
    24. Ebru Dogan & Jan Bolderdijk & Linda Steg, 2014. "Making Small Numbers Count: Environmental and Financial Feedback in Promoting Eco-driving Behaviours," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 413-422, September.
    25. Priessner, Alfons & Sposato, Robert & Hampl, Nina, 2018. "Predictors of electric vehicle adoption: An analysis of potential electric vehicle drivers in Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 701-714.
    26. Michael Wolinetz & Jonn Axsen & Jotham Peters & Curran Crawford, 2018. "Simulating the value of electric-vehicle–grid integration using a behaviourally realistic model," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(2), pages 132-139, February.
    27. Morrissey, Patrick & Weldon, Peter & O’Mahony, Margaret, 2016. "Future standard and fast charging infrastructure planning: An analysis of electric vehicle charging behaviour," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 257-270.
    28. Franke, Thomas & Krems, Josef F., 2013. "What drives range preferences in electric vehicle users?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 56-62.
    29. Nilsson, Anders & Lazarevic, David & Brandt, Nils & Kordas, Olga, 2018. "Household responsiveness to residential demand response strategies: Results and policy implications from a Swedish field study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 273-286.
    30. Jenn, Alan & Springel, Katalin & Gopal, Anand R., 2018. "Effectiveness of electric vehicle incentives in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 349-356.
    31. Kristina Shampanier & Nina Mazar & Dan Ariely, 2007. "Zero as a Special Price: The True Value of Free Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 742-757, 11-12.
    32. Zhang, Tianyang & Pota, Himanshu & Chu, Chi-Cheng & Gadh, Rajit, 2018. "Real-time renewable energy incentive system for electric vehicles using prioritization and cryptocurrency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 582-594.
    33. Manjunath, Archana & Gross, George, 2017. "Towards a meaningful metric for the quantification of GHG emissions of electric vehicles (EVs)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 423-429.
    34. Hardman, Scott & Chandan, Amrit & Tal, Gil & Turrentine, Tom, 2017. "The effectiveness of financial purchase incentives for battery electric vehicles – A review of the evidence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1100-1111.
    35. Liu, Dunnan & Xiao, Bowen, 2018. "Exploring the development of electric vehicles under policy incentives: A scenario-based system dynamics model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 8-23.
    36. Schuitema, Geertje & Anable, Jillian & Skippon, Stephen & Kinnear, Neale, 2013. "The role of instrumental, hedonic and symbolic attributes in the intention to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 39-49.
    37. Zhang, Qi & Li, Hailong & Zhu, Lijing & Campana, Pietro Elia & Lu, Huihui & Wallin, Fredrik & Sun, Qie, 2018. "Factors influencing the economics of public charging infrastructures for EV – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 500-509.
    38. Tu, Ran & Gai, Yijun (Jessie) & Farooq, Bilal & Posen, Daniel & Hatzopoulou, Marianne, 2020. "Electric vehicle charging optimization to minimize marginal greenhouse gas emissions from power generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    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. Zou, Wenke & Sun, Yongjun & Gao, Dian-ce & Zhang, Xu & Liu, Junyao, 2023. "A review on integration of surging plug-in electric vehicles charging in energy-flexible buildings: Impacts analysis, collaborative management technologies, and future perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).

    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. Ledna, Catherine & Muratori, Matteo & Brooker, Aaron & Wood, Eric & Greene, David, 2022. "How to support EV adoption: Tradeoffs between charging infrastructure investments and vehicle subsidies in California," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    2. Zhuge, Chengxiang & Wei, Binru & Shao, Chunfu & Shan, Yuli & Dong, Chunjiao, 2020. "The role of the license plate lottery policy in the adoption of Electric Vehicles: A case study of Beijing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Ruyu Xie & Liren An & Nosheena Yasir, 2022. "How Innovative Characteristics Influence Consumers’ Intention to Purchase Electric Vehicle: A Moderating Role of Lifestyle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Hu, Xianfeng & Wang, Shanyong & Zhou, Rongting & Gao, Lan & Zhu, Zujun, 2023. "Policy driven or consumer trait driven? Unpacking the EVs purchase intention of consumers from the policy and consumer trait perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Ye Yang & Zhongfu Tan, 2019. "Investigating the Influence of Consumer Behavior and Governmental Policy on the Diffusion of Electric Vehicles in Beijing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Goel, Pooja & Kumar, Aalok & Parayitam, Satyanarayana & Luthra, Sunil, 2023. "Understanding transport users' preferences for adopting electric vehicle based mobility for sustainable city: A moderated moderated-mediation model," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Burra, Lavan T. & Sommer, Stephan & Vance, Colin, 2023. "Free-Ridership in Subsidies for Company- and Private Electric Vehicles," Ruhr Economic Papers 1015, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Wu, Zezhou & He, Qiufeng & Li, Jiarun & Bi, Guoqiang & Antwi-Afari, Maxwell Fordjour, 2023. "Public attitudes and sentiments towards new energy vehicles in China: A text mining approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    9. Wolbertus, Rick & Kroesen, Maarten & van den Hoed, Robert & Chorus, Caspar, 2018. "Fully charged: An empirical study into the factors that influence connection times at EV-charging stations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-7.
    10. Li, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhenpo & Zhang, Lei & Sun, Fengchun & Cui, Dingsong & Hecht, Christopher & Figgener, Jan & Sauer, Dirk Uwe, 2023. "Electric vehicle behavior modeling and applications in vehicle-grid integration: An overview," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    11. Lin, Boqiang & Shi, Lei, 2022. "Do environmental quality and policy changes affect the evolution of consumers’ intentions to buy new energy vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    12. Adu-Gyamfi, Gibbson & Asamoah, Ama Nyarkoh & Obuobi, Bright & Nketiah, Emmanuel & Zhang, Ming, 2024. "Electric mobility in an oil-producing developing nation: Empirical assessment of electric vehicle adoption," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    13. Luo, Qi & Yin, Yunlei & Chen, Pengyu & Zhan, Zhenfei & Saigal, Romesh, 2022. "Dynamic subsidies for synergistic development of charging infrastructure and electric vehicle adoption," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 117-136.
    14. Schoch, Jennifer & Gaerttner, Johannes & Schuller, Alexander & Setzer, Thomas, 2018. "Enhancing electric vehicle sustainability through battery life optimal charging," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1-18.
    15. Yao, Xusheng & Ma, Shoufeng & Bai, Yin & Jia, Ning, 2022. "When are new energy vehicle incentives effective? Empirical evidence from 88 pilot cities in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 207-224.
    16. Brückmann, Gracia, 2022. "Test-drives & information might not boost actual battery electric vehicle uptake?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 204-218.
    17. Ji, Zhenya & Huang, Xueliang, 2018. "Plug-in electric vehicle charging infrastructure deployment of China towards 2020: Policies, methodologies, and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 710-727.
    18. Ji, Qing & Wang, Chunan & Fan, Ying, 2022. "Environmental and welfare effects of vehicle purchase tax: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    19. Hardman, Scott & Tal, Gil, 2021. "Discontinuance Among California’s Electric Vehicle Buyers: Why are Some Consumers Abandoning Electric Vehicles?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt11n6f4hs, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    20. Wang, Xiao-Wu & Cao, Yu-Mei & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "The influences of incentive policy perceptions and consumer social attributes on battery electric vehicle purchase intentions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).

    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:161:y:2022:i:c:s0301421521006182. 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.