The role of demand-side incentives and charging infrastructure on plug-in electric vehicle adoption: analysis of US States

Abstract

In the US, over 400 state and local incentives have been issued to increase the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) since 2008. This article quantifies the influence of key incentives and enabling factors like charging infrastructure and receptive demographics on PEV adoption. The study focuses on three central questions. First, do consumers respond to certain types of state level vehicle purchase incentives? Second, does the density of public charging infrastructure increase PEV purchases? Finally, does the impact of various factors differ for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), battery electric vehicles (BEV) and vehicle attributes within each category? Based on a regression of vehicle purchase data from 2008-2016, we found that tax incentives and charging infrastructure significantly influence per capita PEV purchases. Within tax incentives, rebates are generally more effective than tax credits. BEV purchases are more affected by tax incentives than PHEVs. The correlation of public charging and vehicle purchases increases with the battery-only driving range of a PHEV, while decreasing with increasing driving range of BEVs. Results indicate that early investments in charging infrastructure, particularly along highways; tax incentives targeting affordable BEVs and PHEVs with higher battery only range, and better reflection of the environmental cost of owning gasoline vehicles are likely to increase PEV adoption in the US.

Understanding the impact of reoccurring and non-financial incentives on plug-in electric vehicle adoption – A review

“…In the following sections, the findings of these papers on a topic by topic basis are presented, starting with HOV lanes, then infrastructure, parking incentives, toll or roach charge emptions, annual tax, gas costs, and finally licencing incentives. (Jenn et al, 2018;Lutsey et al, 2016;Narassimhan and Johnson, 2018;Sheldon and DeShazo, 2017). These studies suggest a 25% (Sheldon and DeShazo, 2017) to 50% (Jenn et al, 2018) increase in PEV sales are because of HOV lane access for PEVs.…”

“…Studies using statistical analysis in the USA (Adepetu et al, 2016;Ajanovic and Haas, 2016;Javid and Nejat, 2017;Lutsey et al, 2016;Narassimhan and Johnson, 2018;Plötz et al, 2016;Wee et al, 2018), Sweden (Egnér and Trosvik, 2018a), Norway (Mersky et al, 2016), and China (Ajanovic and Haas, 2016) have all found a relationship between PEV sales, and the number of charging stations or the presence of workplace, public, or home location infrastructure. Determining whether infrastructure development has a causal relationship with PEV sales is difficult.…”

“…Several studies have investigated the impact of vehicle fuel price in their analysis, again the price of gasoline often isn't dictated by policy nor are increases in its price intended to increase PEV sales, however studies have observed a relationship between the two. Four of these studies have focussed on the USA (Adepetu et al, 2016;Javid and Nejat, 2017;Narassimhan and Johnson, 2018;Wee et al, 2018), one study investigated both the USA and Europe (Plötz et al, 2016), and another focused on the Netherlands (Kangur et al, 2017). Most studies found that higher gas prices are significantly related to PEV market share.…”

Foundations of an Electric Mobility Strategy for the City of Mexicali

“…Adding EVSE is an effective way to increase PEV sales. In the United States, specifically, the addition of one charging station per hundred thousand drivers was found to increase PEV purchases by 3.1% and increase battery electric vehicle purchases (which exclude PHEVs) by 7.2% (Narassimhan and Johnson 2018). Although most vehicles in the U.S. charge at home (U.S. DOE EERE 2019f), additional EVSE increases PEV sales in part by reducing range anxiety.…”

“…Census data were sought for demographic and economic information. Particularly, household income is the most important parameter that is often used to predict EVSE needs, as it is a key indicator of residents' abilities to purchase EVs (Narassimhan and Johnson 2018). However, Mexicali was unable to provide direct household income information.…”