IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v132y2020icp97-109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An in-depth examination of electric vehicle incentives: Consumer heterogeneity and changing response over time

Author

Listed:
  • Jenn, Alan
  • Lee, Jae Hyun
  • Hardman, Scott
  • Tal, Gil

Abstract

We investigate the impacts of a combination of incentives on the purchase decision of electric vehicle buyers in California from 2010 through 2017. We employ a comprehensive survey on over 14,000 purchasers of electric vehicles in the state of California. The survey covers a swath of purchase intentions, general demographics, and importance of various incentives. Our results indicate that the most important incentives for plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) owners are the federal tax credit, the California state rebate, and high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane access. In addition, the importance of the incentives and their associated effect on purchase behavior has been changing over time: respondents are less likely to not change their decision and more likely to not buy a vehicle at all as time passes and the technology moves away from early adopters. Incentives are becoming more important for vehicle adopters as PEV market entry progresses.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:132:y:2020:i:c:p:97-109
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2019.11.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856418311091
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2019.11.004?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. Wang, Ning & Tang, Linhao & Pan, Huizhong, 2017. "Effectiveness of policy incentives on electric vehicle acceptance in China: A discrete choice analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 210-218.
    2. Goulias, Konstadinos G., 1999. "Longitudinal analysis of activity and travel pattern dynamics using generalized mixed Markov latent class models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 535-558, November.
    3. Langbroek, Joram H.M. & Franklin, Joel P. & Susilo, Yusak O., 2016. "The effect of policy incentives on electric vehicle adoption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 94-103.
    4. J. R. DeShazo, 2016. "Improving Incentives for Clean Vehicle Purchases in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 149-165.
    5. Ma, Shao-Chao & Fan, Ying & Feng, Lianyong, 2017. "An evaluation of government incentives for new energy vehicles in China focusing on vehicle purchasing restrictions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 609-618.
    6. Krause, Rachel M. & Carley, Sanya R. & Lane, Bradley W. & Graham, John D., 2013. "Perception and reality: Public knowledge of plug-in electric vehicles in 21 U.S. cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 433-440.
    7. Ajanovic, Amela & Haas, Reinhard, 2016. "Dissemination of electric vehicles in urban areas: Major factors for success," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P2), pages 1451-1458.
    8. Matthews, Lindsay & Lynes, Jennifer & Riemer, Manuel & Del Matto, Tania & Cloet, Nicholas, 2017. "Do we have a car for you? Encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles at point of sale," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 79-88.
    9. Wang, Ning & Pan, Huizhong & Zheng, Wenhui, 2017. "Assessment of the incentives on electric vehicle promotion in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 177-189.
    10. Vergis, Sydney & Chen, Belinda, 2015. "Comparison of plug-in electric vehicle adoption in the United States: A state by state approach," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 56-64.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. DeShazo, J.R. & Sheldon, Tamara L. & Carson, Richard T., 2017. "Designing policy incentives for cleaner technologies: Lessons from California's plug-in electric vehicle rebate program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 18-43.
    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. Danielis, Romeo & Rotaris, Lucia & Giansoldati, Marco & Scorrano, Mariangela, 2020. "Drivers’ preferences for electric cars in Italy. Evidence from a country with limited but growing electric car uptake," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 79-94.
    3. Mandev, Ahmet & Plötz, Patrick & Sprei, Frances & Tal, Gil, 2022. "Empirical charging behavior of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Hernández-Tamurejo, Álvaro & Saiz-Sepúlveda, Álvaro & Lacárcel, Francisco Javier S., 2024. "Are urban mobility policies favoring the purchase of new vehicles?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    6. 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.
    7. Philip, Thara & Whitehead, Jake & Prato, Carlo G., 2023. "Adoption of electric vehicles in a laggard, car-dependent nation: Investigating the potential influence of V2G and broader energy benefits on adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    8. Jia, Wenjian & Jiang, Zhiqiu & Wang, Qian & Xu, Bin & Xiao, Mei, 2023. "Preferences for zero-emission vehicle attributes: Comparing early adopters with mainstream consumers in California," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 21-32.
    9. 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).
    10. Gulnaz Ivanova & António Carrizo Moreira, 2023. "Antecedents of Electric Vehicle Purchase Intention from the Consumer’s Perspective: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    11. Ji, Qing & Wang, Chunan & Fan, Ying, 2022. "Environmental and welfare effects of vehicle purchase tax: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    12. Hayashida, Sherilyn & La Croix, Sumner & Coffman, Makena, 2021. "Understanding changes in electric vehicle policies in the U.S. states, 2010–2018," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 211-223.
    13. Jia, Wenjian & Chen, T. Donna, 2023. "Investigating heterogeneous preferences for plug-in electric vehicles: Policy implications from different choice models," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    14. Sheldon, Tamara L. & Dua, Rubal & Alharbi, Omar Abdullah, 2023. "Electric vehicle subsidies: Time to accelerate or pump the brakes?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    15. Stekelberg, James & Vance, Thomas, 2024. "The effect of transferable tax benefits on consumer intent to purchase an electric vehicle," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    16. Burra, Lavan T. & Sommer, Stephan & Vance, Colin, 2024. "Free-ridership in subsidies for company- and private electric vehicles," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    17. Cruz-Jesus, Frederico & Figueira-Alves, Hugo & Tam, Carlos & Pinto, Diego Costa & Oliveira, Tiago & Venkatesh, Viswanath, 2023. "Pragmatic and idealistic reasons: What drives electric vehicle drivers' satisfaction and continuance intention?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    18. 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.
    19. 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. Jenn, Alan & Lee, Jae Hyun & Hardman, Scott & Tal, Gil, 2019. "An Examination of the Impact That Electric Vehicle Incentives Have on Consumer Purchase Decisions Over Time," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt0x28831g, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    2. Alali, Layla & Niesten, Eva & Gagliardi, Dimitri, 2022. "The impact of UK financial incentives on the adoption of electric fleets: The moderation effect of GDP change," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 200-220.
    3. 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).
    4. Azarafshar, Roshanak & Vermeulen, Wessel N., 2020. "Electric vehicle incentive policies in Canadian provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Almeida Neves, Sónia & Cardoso Marques, António & Alberto Fuinhas, José, 2019. "Technological progress and other factors behind the adoption of electric vehicles: Empirical evidence for EU countries," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 28-39.
    6. Hu, Xu & Yang, Zhaojun & Sun, Jun & Zhang, Yali, 2021. "Exempting battery electric vehicles from traffic restrictions: Impacts on market and environment under Pigovian taxation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 53-91.
    7. Austmann, Leonhard M., 2021. "Drivers of the electric vehicle market: A systematic literature review of empirical studies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    8. Burra, Lavan T. & Sommer, Stephan & Vance, Colin, 2024. "Free-ridership in subsidies for company- and private electric vehicles," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    9. Zhang, Junjie & Jia, Rongwen & Yang, Hangjun & Dong, Kangyin, 2022. "Does electric vehicle promotion in the public sector contribute to urban transport carbon emissions reduction?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 151-163.
    10. 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.
    11. Hardman, Scott, 2019. "Understanding the impact of reoccurring and non-financial incentives on plug-in electric vehicle adoption – A review," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Münzel, Christiane & Plötz, Patrick & Sprei, Frances & Gnann, Till, 2019. "How large is the effect of financial incentives on electric vehicle sales? – A global review and European analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Martin Kalthaus & Jiatang Sun, 2021. "Determinants of Electric Vehicle Diffusion in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(3), pages 473-510, November.
    14. 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.
    15. Yang Ju & Lara J. Cushing & Rachel Morello-Frosch, 2020. "An equity analysis of clean vehicle rebate programs in California," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 2087-2105, October.
    16. Qiu, Y.Q. & Zhou, P. & Sun, H.C., 2019. "Assessing the effectiveness of city-level electric vehicle policies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 22-31.
    17. Schwab, Julia & Sölch, Christian & Zöttl, Gregor, 2022. "Electric Vehicle Cost in 2035: The impact of market penetration and charging strategies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    18. Jingnan Zhang & Shichun Xu & Zhengxia He & Chengze Li & Xiaona Meng, 2022. "Factors Influencing Adoption Intention for Electric Vehicles under a Subsidy Deduction: From Different City-Level Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, May.
    19. Choi, Hyunhong & Shin, Jungwoo & Woo, JongRoul, 2018. "Effect of electricity generation mix on battery electric vehicle adoption and its environmental impact," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 13-24.
    20. Briseño, Hugo & Ramirez-Nafarrate, Adrian & Araz, Ozgur M., 2021. "A multivariate analysis of hybrid and electric vehicles sales in Mexico," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:transa:v:132:y:2020:i:c:p:97-109. 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    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.