Policy mixes to promote the diffusion of battery electric vehicles with an agent-based model and experiments using the case of China

Ronghui Zhu and Tieju Ma

Energy Economics, 2025, vol. 142, issue C

Abstract: Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are effective tools for reducing carbon emissions. Incentive policies play an important role in promoting the development of emerging industries such as BEVs. The design of incentive policies to promote the diffusion of BEVs has been a critical focus in recent research. This study explores cost-effective financial incentive policies that consider regional heterogeneity. An agent-based model is developed that incorporates the individual heterogeneity of consumers and competition between BEVs and traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. The results indicate that consumer subsidies have a more direct promotional effect than manufacturer subsidies; however, this effect must be sustained by ongoing subsidies. Additionally, a policy mix is more efficient because an incentive policy can function better when combined with other policies. Furthermore, the inputs of subsidies are not “the more, the better,” and an appropriate mix of policies can result in better diffusion of BEVs. Finally, regional heterogeneities (e.g., potential market size and initial BEV ownership share) are important when designing incentive policies.

Keywords: Incentive policy; Battery electric vehicle; ABM; Policy mix; Regional heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988324008612
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:142:y:2025:i:c:s0140988324008612

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2024.108152

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Economics is currently edited by R. S. J. Tol, Beng Ang, Lance Bachmeier, Perry Sadorsky, Ugur Soytas and J. P. Weyant

More articles in Energy Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().