Impacts of full electrification of public sector vehicles on urban air quality: Evidence from 15 pilot cities in China

Li Chen and Chuanyao Li

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2025, vol. 200, issue C

Abstract: In 2023, China released the Full Electrification of Public Sector Vehicles (FEPSV) policy in 15 pilot cities, a significant upgrade in electric vehicles (EVs) promotion policy since 2009. This study investigates the impact of the FEPSV policy on urban air quality utilizing a difference-in-differences (DID) model. It employs daily panel data from 44 cities in China, comprising 15 cities in the treatment group and 29 cities in the control group, covering the period from January 1, 2023, to September 2, 2024. Additionally, this study analyzes the heterogeneity and spillover effects of the FEPSV policy. The findings indicate that the FEPSV policy leads to a 3.7% decrease in the Air Quality Index (AQI) in pilot cities, demonstrating a significant positive impact on urban air quality. Heterogeneity analyses showed that the FEPSV policy had better air quality improvements in cities that had been designated as pilot cities in 2009–2010. The observed impacts were more pronounced in southern cities compared to northern cities. Spillover effects analysis shows that implementing the FEPSV policy improves air quality in adjacent cities. This study focuses on the short-term effects of the FEPSV policy and aims to provide policymakers with preliminary feedback on policy impacts for timely adjustments to optimize policy implementation.

Keywords: Electric vehicle; Air quality; Urban transport; Difference-in-difference model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856425002599
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:transa:v:200:y:2025:i:c:s0965856425002599

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2025.104631

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().