Incentive policies for the purchase of green, electric or hybrid vehicles are associated with an increase in their adoption according to a study by the Faculty of Administration Sciences at Laval University. The magnitude and duration of these effects seem greater for the purchase of electric vehicles.
“Incentives for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles increase their adoption by more than 113%, compared to 81% for hybrid cars,” underlines Professor Julien Lépine, one of the authors of the study.
To identify these trends, the team studied data from around thirty European countries, from 2012 to 2021. “The analysis carried out in the article shows the significant effect of financial support for purchases. The purchasing cost therefore seems critical for consumers,” summarizes Professor Lépine.
The research compared the effects of purchase incentive policies with those of the economic benefits of owning a green vehicle, such as parking discounts, free access to toll roads or a rebate on registration. Measures for vehicle ownership had no effect. “If we only have this type of incentive, it is not enough to increase the adoption of electric cars,” reports the researcher.
The impact of purchasing incentives was observed over a period of at least four years. The team was able to note a snowball effect. “We notice that the effects are not instantaneous after the subsidies come into force. The adoption rate peaks in the second year and the effects continue for the four years following deployment,” specifies Julien Lépine.
And what happens when a grant is withdrawn? “The adoption rate of electric vehicles returns to the level before the subsidy,” indicates the researcher.
Optimal conditions for adoption
The effects of incentives were not heterogeneous among the countries studied. The country’s wealth, the price of gasoline and the abundance of renewable energy influenced the rate of adoption of electric vehicles.
For countries considered less wealthy, with a gross domestic product of less than US$31,000 per capita, government subsidies played an even greater role than in rich countries. “This suggests that the price of vehicles and the population’s ability to pay are critical for the electrification of cars,” argues Julien Lépine. But even if people have a high income, they need subsidies to adopt electric vehicles. »
For countries with multiple renewable energy sources, subsidies also helped adoption. “This result suggests that people are aware that, when you make electricity with green energy, using an electric vehicle means that you emit very few greenhouse gas emissions,” reports Julien Lépine.
“In Canada and Quebec, we have all the factors that would ensure that a subsidy could help electrify quickly,” maintains the professor.
As for the price of gasoline, no effect was observed. “According to our results, increasing the price of gasoline would not necessarily cause people to buy more electric vehicles,” reports Julien Lépine.
The study addresses personal vehicles, but the same observations could apply to heavy vehicles.
The study was published in the journal Transportation Research Part A. The signatories of the study are doctoral student Edlaine Correia Sinézio Martins, Professor Jacqueline Corbett and Professor Julien Lépine.
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