Diffusion of electric vehicles – The spillover effect of charging facilities and government demonstrations for neighbouring and peer regions

Promoting the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is important for the decarbonisation of the transportation sector. Existing research indicates that the diffusion of new technologies tends to be highly spatially correlated. This study explores whether a region's adoption of EVs is positively related with the availability of charging facilities and government demonstrations promoting EVs in peer regions. This study develops a dynamic spatial panel data model based on the Spatial Dubin Model to explore this question using panel data from 28 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020. The main findings of this study include the following: 1) Not surprisingly, the high availability of charging facilities in a region and its local government's demonstration effort contribute to the adoption of EVs in the region; 2) the adoption of EVs in one region can contribute to EV adoption in its peer regions – so-called spillover effect; in particular, the government's demonstration effort contributes significantly to this effect, but the high availability of charging facilities does not; and 3) such spillover effects are more significant in regions with higher economic levels or regions with warm temperatures. Our study provides implications for EV makers to identify further potential markets for EVs.