Size-Based rebound effects: Do green wheels come with big footprints?

Erik L. Olson

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2026, vol. 209, issue C

Abstract: Transportation related energy use and emissions continue to rise globally despite substantial improvements in vehicle efficiency, and the current research addresses this green paradox by examining the degree to which the low operating costs and clean image of battery electric vehicles (BEV) create size related rebound effects by inadvertently increasing the popularity of physically larger and more resource intensive vehicles. Using conjoint analysis on a sample of U.S. new vehicle buyers, the findings demonstrate that BEV availability creates significant economic and moral licensing based rebound effects that shift preferences towards significantly larger vehicles. The results further contribute to the transport policy literature by demonstrating that this shift towards larger sized vehicles makes BEVs more financially attractive to develop and sell, but substantially reduces their environmental benefits, and hence provides a plausible explanation for the green paradox.

Keywords: Electric vehicles (EV); Moral licensing; Negative spillover; Rebound effects; Sustainability; Lifecycle analysis (LCA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2026.105020

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