IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v37y2009i3p1095-1103.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond batteries: An examination of the benefits and barriers to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) transition

Author

Listed:
  • Sovacool, Benjamin K.
  • Hirsh, Richard F.

Abstract

This paper explores both the promise and the possible pitfalls of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept, focusing first on its definition and then on its technical state-of-the-art. More originally, the paper assesses significant, though often overlooked, social barriers to the wider use of PHEVs (a likely precursor to V2G) and implementation of a V2G transition. The article disputes the idea that the only important barriers facing the greater use of PHEVs and V2G systems are technical. Instead, it provides a broader assessment situating such "technical" barriers alongside more subtle impediments relating to social and cultural values, business practices, and political interests. The history of other energy transitions, and more specifically the history of renewable energy technologies, implies that these "socio-technical" obstacles may be just as important to any V2G transition--and perhaps even more difficult to overcome. Analogously, the article illuminates the policy implications of such barriers, emphasizing what policymakers need to achieve a transition to a V2G and PHEV world.

Suggested Citation

  • Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Hirsh, Richard F., 2009. "Beyond batteries: An examination of the benefits and barriers to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1095-1103, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:3:p:1095-1103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(08)00593-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Vietor, Richard H. K., 1980. "The Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program: Energy Politics in the Truman Era," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-34, April.
    2. Fontaine, Peter J., 2008. "Shortening the Path to Energy Independence: A Policy Agenda to Commercialize Battery-Electric Vehicles," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 22-42, July.
    3. Lund, Henrik & Kempton, Willett, 2008. "Integration of renewable energy into the transport and electricity sectors through V2G," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3578-3587, September.
    4. Williams, Brett D & Kurani, Kenneth S, 2007. "Commercializing light-duty plug-in/plug-out hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles: “Mobile Electricity” technologies and opportunities," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt34x5p0kn, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    5. Gao, H. Oliver & Kitirattragarn, Vincent, 2008. "Taxi owners' buying preferences of hybrid-electric vehicles and their implications for emissions in New York City," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1064-1073, October.
    6. Faruqui, Ahmad & Hledik, Ryan & Newell, Sam & Pfeifenberger, Hannes, 2007. "The Power of 5 Percent," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 68-77, October.
    7. Romm, Joseph, 2006. "The car and fuel of the future," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2609-2614, November.
    8. Sanstad, Alan H & Blumstein, Carl & Stoft, Steven E, 1995. "How high are option values in energy-efficiency investments?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 739-743, September.
    9. Sperling, Daniel, 1994. "Gearing Up for Electric Cars," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt15k5z697, University of California Transportation Center.
    10. Turrentine, Thomas S. & Kurani, Kenneth S., 2007. "Car buyers and fuel economy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1213-1223, February.
    11. DeCanio, Stephen J, 1998. "The efficiency paradox: bureaucratic and organizational barriers to profitable energy-saving investments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 441-454, April.
    12. Jonathan G. Koomey & Alan H. Sanstad & Leslie J. Shown, 1996. "Energy‐Efficient Lighting: Market Data, Market Imperfections, And Policy Success," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(3), pages 98-111, July.
    13. Turrentine, Tom & Kurani, Kenneth S, 2007. "Car buyers and fuel economy?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt56x845v4, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    14. David Calef & Robert Goble, 2007. "The allure of technology: How France and California promoted electric and hybrid vehicles to reduce urban air pollution," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 40(1), pages 1-34, March.
    15. Meier, Alan K. & Whittier, Jack, 1983. "Consumer discount rates implied by purchases of energy-efficient refrigerators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 8(12), pages 957-962.
    16. Pitts, Robert E & Willenborg, John F & Sherrell, Daniel L, 1981. "Consumer Adaptation to Gasoline Price Increases," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(3), pages 322-330, December.
    17. Richard B. Howarth & Alan H. Sanstad, 1995. "Discount Rates And Energy Efficiency," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 13(3), pages 101-109, July.
    18. Hassett, Kevin A. & Metcalf, Gilbert E., 1993. "Energy conservation investment : Do consumers discount the future correctly?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 710-716, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chen Wang & Ricardo Daziano, 2015. "On the problem of measuring discount rates in intertemporal transportation choices," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(6), pages 1019-1038, November.
    2. Ward, David O. & Clark, Christopher D. & Jensen, Kimberly L. & Yen, Steven T. & Russell, Clifford S., 2011. "Factors influencing willingness-to-pay for the ENERGY STAR® label," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1450-1458, March.
    3. Samdruk Dharshing & Stefanie Lena Hille, 2017. "The Energy Paradox Revisited: Analyzing the Role of Individual Differences and Framing Effects in Information Perception," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 485-508, December.
    4. Daan van Soest & Erwin Bulte, 2001. "Does the Energy-Efficiency Paradox Exist? Technological Progress and Uncertainty," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 18(1), pages 101-112, January.
    5. Kenneth Gillingham & Karen Palmer, 2014. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Policy Insights from Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(1), pages 18-38, January.
    6. Schleich, Joachim & Gruber, Edelgard, 2008. "Beyond case studies: Barriers to energy efficiency in commerce and the services sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 449-464, March.
    7. Greene, David L. & Evans, David H. & Hiestand, John, 2013. "Survey evidence on the willingness of U.S. consumers to pay for automotive fuel economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1539-1550.
    8. Greene, David L., 2011. "Uncertainty, loss aversion, and markets for energy efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 608-616, July.
    9. Cagno, E. & Worrell, E. & Trianni, A. & Pugliese, G., 2013. "A novel approach for barriers to industrial energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 290-308.
    10. Jonathan G. Koomey & Alan H. Sanstad & Leslie J. Shown, 1996. "Energy‐Efficient Lighting: Market Data, Market Imperfections, And Policy Success," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(3), pages 98-111, July.
    11. Usón, Alfonso Aranda & Capilla, Antonio Valero & Bribián, Ignacio Zabalza & Scarpellini, Sabina & Sastresa, Eva Llera, 2011. "Energy efficiency in transport and mobility from an eco-efficiency viewpoint," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1916-1923.
    12. Li, Jia & Just, Richard E., 2018. "Modeling household energy consumption and adoption of energy efficient technology," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 404-415.
    13. Arslan, Okan & Yıldız, Barış & Karaşan, Oya Ekin, 2015. "Minimum cost path problem for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 123-141.
    14. Brown, Marilyn A., 2001. "Market failures and barriers as a basis for clean energy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(14), pages 1197-1207, November.
    15. James Carroll & Eleanor Denny & Seán Lyons, 2016. "The Effects of Energy Cost Labelling on Appliance Purchasing Decisions: Trial Results from Ireland," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 23-40, March.
    16. Anna Alberini, Markus Bareit and Massimo Filippini, 2016. "What is the Effect of Fuel Efficiency Information on Car Prices? Evidence from Switzerland," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    17. Erin Baker, 2012. "Option Value and the Diffusion of Energy Efficient Products," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    18. Philip B. Thompson, 2002. "Consumer Theory, Home Production, And Energy Efficiency," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(1), pages 50-59, January.
    19. Axsen, Jonn, 2010. "Interpersonal Influence within Car Buyers’ Social Networks: Observing Consumer Assessment of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and the Spread of Pro-Societal Values," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt8p32d18k, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    20. O'Malley, Eoin & Scott, Susan & Sorrell, Steve, 2003. "Barriers to Energy Efficiency: Evidence from Selected Sectors," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number PRS47.

    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:37:y:2009:i:3:p:1095-1103. 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.