Promoting the Market for Plug-In Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Much recent attention has been drawn to providing adequate recharge availability as a means to promote the battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) market. The possible role of improved recharge availability in developing the BEV-PHEV market and the priorities that different charging options should receive from the government require better understanding. This study reviews the charging issue and conceptualizes it into three interactions between the charge network and the travel network. With travel data from 3,755 drivers in the National Household Travel Survey, this paper estimates the distribution among U.S. consumers of (a) PHEV fuel-saving benefits by different recharge availability improvements, (b) range anxiety by different BEV ranges, and (c) willingness to pay for workplace and public charging in addition to home recharging. With the Oak Ridge National Laboratory MA3T model, the impact of three recharge improvements is quantified by the resulting increase in BEV-PHEV sales. Compared with workplace and public recharging improvements, home recharging improvement appears to have a greater impact on BEV-PHEV sales. The impact of improved recharging availability is shown to be amplified by a faster reduction in battery cost.