This paper, for the 36th International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS36), examines data collected from over 72,500 California consumers representing nearly 377,000 rebated EVs purchased or leased since September 2012, with a focus on 2020.
Select Findings
- As expected during the onset of COVID, Rebate Essentiality—the percent of consumers who would not have purchased/leased their EV without the rebate—decreased in 2020, but primarily for Tesla vehicles (to 31%).
- Rebate Essentiality remained relatively high for plug-in hybrid EVs (47%) and non-Tesla battery EVs (50%), and for income-qualified recipients of the Increased Rebate (66%).
- Attractive EV offerings (including SUV body styles and Tesla vehicles overall) showed lower Rebate Essentiality.
- Rebate influence remained strong through 2020 for non-Tesla vehicles with an MSRP below $60,000.
- Expectedly, rebate influence was highest for households with annual incomes less than $100,000. Less intuitive, rebate influence remains relatively constant (and relatively high for non-Tesla consumers) between $100,000 and $250,000.
- A process for converting results into a “Free Rider Abatement Curve” to rank-order program-design recommendations is proposed.
Findings guide strategies to cost-effectively support emission reduction and EV market growth.
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