Incentivizing the Transition to Alternative Fuel Vehicles: Case Study on the California Vehicle Rebate Program

Edmund Zolnik () and Unchitta Kan
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Edmund Zolnik: Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22201, USA
Unchitta Kan: School of Computational Science, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) rebate programs incentivize the transition from fossil fuels to alternative fuels. Unfortunately, research on the people who are rebate program recipients is more evident than research on the places where the programs distribute rebates. To that end, this study retrospectively analyzes rebates in a statewide, AFV rebate program known as the California Vehicle Rebate Program (CVRP), from 2011 to 2022, to explore the statewide distribution of rebates. The specification of novel multilevel models nests rebates within different levels of analysis to control for programmatic income eligibility changes for rebate recipients as well as infrastructural, racial, transactional, environmental, and demographic differences between census tracts. The different levels of analysis include spatial attributes of the CVRP as well as temporal attributes of the CVRP to control for implicit heterogeneity in the outcomes of interest. Results suggest that the CVRP does not distribute rebates to places where infrastructure is accessible, but the CVRP does distribute rebates to places where pollution is burdensome and people are socioeconomically vulnerable.

Keywords: alternative fuel vehicles; rebates; multilevel model; State of California (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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