A Tale of Two Investments: Charging Stations and Purchase Subsidies for EV Adoption

This working paper studies the interaction between electric vehicle purchase subsidies and charging infrastructure development.

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Date

July 22, 2024

Authors

Yanjun (Penny) Liao, Bei Luo, and Beia Spiller

Publication

Working Paper

Reading time

1 minute

Abstract

This paper studies the interaction between financial purchase subsidies and charging infrastructure development in promoting electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Leveraging survey data from the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) in California and spatial information on charging stations, we find a significant positive impact of higher charging station density on self-reported importance of CVRP rebates in EV purchase decisions. The results exhibit substantial heterogeneity between lower- and higher-income individuals, likely due to their different charging needs. Our findings reveal a complementary relationship between improving charging prevalence and providing purchase subsidies, which suggests that a hybrid policy combining these two types of incentives might help optimize the overall cost-effectiveness in accelerating EV adoption.

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A Tale of Two Investments: Charging Stations and Purchase Subsidies for EV Adoption

Read the full working paper.

PDF — 1.1 MB

Topics

Transportation

Authors

Yanjun (Penny) Liao

Fellow

Yanjun (Penny) Liao is a fellow at Resources for the Future.

Bei Luo

University of California, San Diego

Beia Spiller

Fellow; Director, Transportation Program

Beia Spiller is a fellow and the director for RFF's Transportation Program. Her recent research has focused around electric vehicles and environmental justice, exploring some of the most pressing issues around electric car, truck and bus adoption.

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