IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwwpp/dp2032.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effectiveness and Heterogeneous Effects of Purchase Grants for Electric Vehicles

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Haan
  • Adrián Santonja
  • Aleksandar Zaklan

Abstract

We evaluate German purchase subsidies for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) using data on new vehicle registrations in Germany during 2015-2022. We account for confounding time trends and interacting EU-level CO2 standards using neighboring countries as a control group. The program was cost-ineffective, as only 40% of BEV and 25% of PHEV registrations were subsidy-induced, and had strong distributional effects, with greater uptake in wealthier and greener counties. The implied abatement cost of 870 euro per ton of CO2 for BEVs and 2,470 euro for PHEVs suggests that subsidies to PHEVs were especially cost-ineffective.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Haan & Adrián Santonja & Aleksandar Zaklan, 2023. "Effectiveness and Heterogeneous Effects of Purchase Grants for Electric Vehicles," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2032, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.865810.de/dp2032.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xing, Jianwei & Leard, Benjamin & Li, Shanjun, 2021. "What does an electric vehicle replace?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Shanjun Li & Lang Tong & Jianwei Xing & Yiyi Zhou, 2017. "The Market for Electric Vehicles: Indirect Network Effects and Policy Design," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 89-133.
    3. Mark Hoekstra & Steven L. Puller & Jeremy West, 2017. "Cash for Corollas: When Stimulus Reduces Spending," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 1-35, July.
    4. Chia-Wen Chen & Wei-Min Hu & Christopher R. Knittel, 2021. "Subsidizing Fuel-Efficient Cars: Evidence from China's Automobile Industry," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 152-184, November.
    5. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2012. "The Effects of Fiscal Stimulus: Evidence from the 2009 Cash for Clunkers Program," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1107-1142.
    6. Kevin Remmy, 2022. "Adjustable Product Attributes, Indirect Network Effects, and Subsidy Design: The Case of Electric Vehicles," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2022_335, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    7. Azarafshar, Roshanak & Vermeulen, Wessel N., 2020. "Electric vehicle incentive policies in Canadian provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    8. Stephen P. Holland & Erin T. Mansur & Nicholas Z. Muller & Andrew J. Yates, 2016. "Are There Environmental Benefits from Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(12), pages 3700-3729, December.
    9. Hunt Allcott & Christopher Knittel & Dmitry Taubinsky, 2015. "Tagging and Targeting of Energy Efficiency Subsidies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 187-191, May.
    10. Muehlegger, Erich & Rapson, David S., 2022. "Subsidizing low- and middle-income adoption of electric vehicles: Quasi-experimental evidence from California," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    11. 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).
    12. 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.
    13. Clinton, Bentley C. & Steinberg, Daniel C., 2019. "Providing the Spark: Impact of financial incentives on battery electric vehicle adoption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Katalin Springel, 2021. "Network Externality and Subsidy Structure in Two-Sided Markets: Evidence from Electric Vehicle Incentives," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 393-432, November.
    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. 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.
    2. Fournel, Jean-François, 2023. "Electric Vehicle Subsidies: Cost-Effectiveness and Emission Reductions," TSE Working Papers 23-1465, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    3. Tsanko, Ilona, 2023. "Would you like to supersize your car? The effect of environmental subsidies on emissions," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-033, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Roberto Amaral-Santos & Ariaster Chimeli & Joao Paulo Pessoa, 2023. "Natural Gas Vehicles: Consequences to Fuel Markets and the Environment," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2023_07, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    5. Pessoa, Joao Paulo & Santos, Roberto Amaral & Chimeli, Ariaster, 2023. "Natural Gas Vehicles: Consequences to Fuel Markets and the Environment," SocArXiv 7tvgy, Center for Open Science.
    6. Patrick Bigler & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2022. "Environmental, Redistributive and Revenue Effects of Policies Promoting Fuel Efficient and Electric Vehicles," CESifo Working Paper Series 9645, CESifo.
    7. Kenneth Gillingham & Marten Ovaere & Stephanie Weber, 2021. "Carbon Policy and the Emissions Implications of Electric Vehicles," CESifo Working Paper Series 8974, CESifo.
    8. Lucas W. Davis, 2023. "The Economic Determinants of Heat Pump Adoption," NBER Chapters, in: Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, volume 5, pages 162-199, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Li, Ping & Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2023. "The effects of new energy vehicle subsidies on air quality: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    10. Zunian Luo, 2022. "Powering Up a Slow Charging Market: How Do Government Subsidies Affect Charging Station Supply?," Papers 2210.14908, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    11. Li, Guodong & Walls, W.D. & Zheng, Xiaoli, 2023. "Differential license plate pricing and electric vehicle adoption in Shanghai, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Sheldon, Tamara L. & Dua, Rubal, 2019. "Measuring the cost-effectiveness of electric vehicle subsidies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Haidar, Bassem & Aguilar Rojas, Maria Teresa, 2022. "The relationship between public charging infrastructure deployment and other socio-economic factors and electric vehicle adoption in France," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    14. Jeremy Dijk & Nathan Delacrétaz & Bruno Lanz, 2022. "Technology Adoption and Early Network Infrastructure Provision in the Market for Electric Vehicles," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(3), pages 631-679, November.
    15. 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.
    16. 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).
    17. 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.
    18. Linn, Joshua, 2022. "Balancing Equity and Effectiveness for Electric Vehicle Subsidies," RFF Working Paper Series 22-07, Resources for the Future.
    19. Brindusa Anghel & Iván Auciello & Aitor Lacuesta, 2022. "Heterogeneity of the impact of the Spanish programme of incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue 4/2022.
    20. Austmann, Leonhard M., 2021. "Drivers of the electric vehicle market: A systematic literature review of empirical studies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Decarbonizing road transport; electric mobility; purchase subsidies; policy effectiveness; distributional effects of climate policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:diw:diwwpp:dp2032. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.html .

    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.