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Show Me the Money! Incentives and Nudges to Shift Electric Vehicle Charge Timing

Author

Listed:
  • Bailey, Megan R.

    (University of Calgary)

  • Brown, David P.

    (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)

  • Shaffer, Blake

    (University of Calgary)

  • Wolak, Frank A.

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

We use a field experiment to measure the effectiveness of financial incentives and moral suasion “nudges” to shift the timing of electric vehicle (EV) charging. We find EV owners respond strongly to financial incentives, while nudges have no statistically discernible effect. When financial incentives are removed, charge timing reverts to pre-intervention behavior, showing no evidence of habit formation and reinforcing our finding that “money matters”. Our charge price responsiveness estimate is an order of magnitude larger than typical household electricity consumption elasticities. This result highlights the greater flexibility of EV charging over other forms of residential electricity demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Bailey, Megan R. & Brown, David P. & Shaffer, Blake & Wolak, Frank A., 2023. "Show Me the Money! Incentives and Nudges to Shift Electric Vehicle Charge Timing," Working Papers 2023-8, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:albaec:2023_008
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    File URL: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~econwps/2023/wp2023-08.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Heather Royer & Mark Stehr & Justin Sydnor, 2015. "Incentives, Commitments, and Habit Formation in Exercise: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Workers at a Fortune-500 Company," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 51-84, July.
    2. Uri Gneezy & Stephan Meier & Pedro Rey-Biel, 2011. "When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(4), pages 191-210, Fall.
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    4. Matthew Harding & Steven Sexton, 2017. "Household Response to Time-Varying Electricity Prices," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 337-359, October.
    5. Peter C. Reiss & Matthew W. White, 2008. "What changes energy consumption? Prices and public pressures," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(3), pages 636-663, September.
    6. Hunt Allcott & Todd Rogers, 2014. "The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3003-3037, October.
    7. Peter C. Reiss & Matthew W. White, 2005. "Household Electricity Demand, Revisited," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(3), pages 853-883.
    8. Koichiro Ito & Takanori Ida & Makoto Tanaka, 2018. "Moral Suasion and Economic Incentives: Field Experimental Evidence from Energy Demand," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 240-267, February.
    9. Qiu, Yueming Lucy & Wang, Yi David & Iseki, Hiroyuki & Shen, Xingchi & Xing, Bo & Zhang, Huiming, 2022. "Empirical grid impact of in-home electric vehicle charging differs from predictions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Jesse Burkhardt & Kenneth Gillingham & Praveen K. Kopalle, 2019. "Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Information and Pricing on Residential Electricity Consumption," NBER Working Papers 25576, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura Grigolon & Eunseong Park & Kevin Remmy, 2024. "Fueling Electrification: The Impact of Gas Prices on Hybrid Car Usage," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_494, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electric Vehicles; Demand Response; Nudges; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

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