Avantages et coûts du véhicule électrique pour les finances publiques : modèle d'évaluation intégrée et application au territoire français / Benefits and costs of electric vehicles for the public finances: integrated valuation model and application to France

The development of electro-mobility, with electric motors replacing the internal combustion engine, raises issues relating to the environment, energy and industry. Within a given country, it would have an economic and social impact in many areas, in particular on governments. Our objective is to quantify the respective impacts on the public finances of an electrically powered or petrol fuelled private car. In order to do this, we establish an integrated method of valuation, covering both manufacture and use of the vehicle, which locates these stages within or outside the country concerned. From a "depth" perspective, it incorporates the economic proceeds from the different activities and what they consume, and from a "breadth" perspective it incorporates the fiscal effects (VAT, fuel and energy taxes, tax on production, etc.) and the social effects (social contributions, unemployment benefits). The valuation method is based on an input-output model of the productive economy within a country, combined with mechanisms of fiscal and social transfer. We postulate the existence of an activity for the Manufacture of electric vehicles, and we include this within the consumption matrix associated with production. We apply this method to France, and to a diverse range of scenarios regarding the place in which the vehicle is manufactured and used. From this assessment it emerges that the impact of a vehicle on the public finances is substantial: manufacture contributes approximately the purchase price excluding VAT, and usage adds an amount of the same order of magnitude. The vast majority of the revenues arise from the social contributions associated with production (approximately 70%); VAT accounts for almost 20%, tax on production around 5%, and energy surcharge 9% for an internal combustion vehicle or 1% for an electric vehicle. If it is both manufactured and used inside the country, then an electric vehicle might contribute very slightly more to the public finances than an internal combustion vehicle, before any purchase incentive bonus, which would markedly reverse the outcome. The worst scenario would be the use of an imported electric vehicle instead of a domestically manufactured internal combustion vehicle. At the other end of the scale, as an export product, an electric vehicle contributes substantially more to the public purse than an internal combustion vehicle.