The (un-)intended consequences of transport electrification: a scoping review of rebound and spillover effects

In recent years, many policies have been implemented to boost the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs). Despite these efforts and an increase in EV adoption, the actual contribution of the transport sector to a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is limited and insufficient to reach the ambitious environmental goals needed to limit global warming. One of the reasons for this might be that EV adoption partly generates different behavioural responses to those expected. In the literature, these effects are often referred to as “rebound” and “spillover” effects. The behavioural changes in response to EV adoption measured at individual and aggregated levels are the subject of this scoping literature review. Our review includes and classifies 62 studies. The studies are related to behavioural changes that offset or partially offset the expected GHG reduction, for example, as people drive more (rebound effect), while there are also studies that address behavioural changes in other domains (spillover effect). The proposed framework and search strategy allow us to systemise the underlying economic and psychological mechanisms that are suggested to generate a change in different behavioural domains in the selected studies. The review also focuses on how these behavioural responses have been defined and measured in the academic literature, as well as the limitations and research gaps of these studies. These include an unclear use of terminologies and a lack of longitudinal studies that focus on the management of rebound and spillover effects to fully exploit the emission-saving potential of electric vehicles.