Research
PUBLICATIONS
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 13(4) (2021).
This paper uses new, large-scale vehicle registry data from Norway and a two-sided market framework to show non-neutrality of different subsidies and estimate their impact on electric vehicle adoption when network externalities are present. Estimates suggest a strong positive connection between electric vehicle purchases and both consumer price and charging station subsidies. Counterfactual analyses suggest that between 2010 and 2015 every dollar spent on station subsidies resulted in more than twice as many additional electric vehicle purchases than the same amount spent on price subsidies. However, this relation inverts with increased spending, as station subsidies’ impact tapers off faster.
Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 15(2) (2021).
Governments around the world are planning to accelerate their efforts to decarbonize and electrify their transportation sector. In this article, I describe the key role charging stations play in electric vehicle (EV) markets and discuss how a lack of charging infrastructure can pose a barrier to EV adoption. Then I discuss Norway’s experience with incentives for charging infrastructure and consumer subsidies. I conclude by highlighting key lessons from Norway and their implications for designing effective policies to support EV adoption.
Energy Policy 119 (2018): 349-356.
Transportation accounts for 28% of total energy use and 26% of carbon emissions in the US, and battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are promising options to decarbonize transportation. Federal and state governments, electric utility operators, and a number of other entities have provided support to accelerate electric vehicle purchases via monetary and non-monetary incentives. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of these incentives on the adoption of electric vehicles. We find that every $1000 offered as a rebate or tax credit increases average sales of electric vehicles by 2.6%. We also find that HOV lane access is a significant contributor to adoption, the effect is a 4.7% increase corresponding to density of HOV lanes (every 100 vehicles per hour). In addition, we introduce a novel variable to capture consumer knowledge of EVs and associated incentives in our model to help explain the state level heterogeneity in response to incentives and find that raising consumer awareness is critical to the success of EV incentive programs.
WORKING PAPERS
"Vehicle Attribute Tradeoffs and the Distributional Effects of U.S. Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards " (with Benjamin Leard and Joshua Linn) (R&R, Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics)
This paper presents welfare and distributional effects of US fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards between 2012 and 2022. We build an equilibrium model that includes fixed and variable costs of raising fuel economy, manufacturer substitution between fuel economy and performance, and heterogeneous consumer preferences and manufacturer costs. We find that the standards have increased social welfare and that consumer undervaluation of fuel cost savings accounts for most of the social benefits. Manufacturers achieve most fuel economy improvements by trading off horsepower. Due to this compliance strategy, the standards have been progressive because high-income households value horsepower much more.
"Political Ideology and U.S. Electric Vehicle Adoption" (with Lucas Davis and Jing Li)
The prospect for electric vehicles (EVs) as a climate change solution hinges on their widespread adoption across the political spectrum. In this paper, we use detailed county-level data on new vehicle registrations from 2012-2022 to measure the degree to which EV adoption is concentrated in the most left-leaning U.S. counties, and how this concentration has changed over time. The results point to a strong and enduring correlation between political ideology and U.S. EV adoption. During our time period about half of all EVs went to the 10% most Democratic counties, and about one-third went to the top 5%. There is relatively little evidence that this correlation has decreased over time, and even some specifications that point to increasing correlation. The results suggests that it may be harder than previously believed to reach high levels of U.S. EV adoption.
WORK IN PROGRESS
"Entry and Coordination in the US Electric Vehicle Charging Industry" (with Jing Li)