Electric Vehicles
Electric Vehicles [link]Electric Vehicles benefits slides from Erin Mansur [link]
Key Points
- Review of consumer demand and social benefits of EVs
Reading and response questions
Lecture 1
We’re going to start our discussion of electric vehicles by looking and the drivers of demand. Please read the following three articles.
- The New York Times, Electric Cars Are Better for the Planet – and Often Your Budget, Too
- Max Auffhammer, “The EV revolution will be heavily subsidized”
- Lucas Davis, “An EV in every driveway?”
- builds on an earlier blog here (optional)
Response questions
- What do you think the key determinants of electric vehicle demand are?
- The New York Times article suggests that EVs often save consumers money. Yet they have very low market shares. What are some reasons for that?
- Who do you think benefits most from EV subsidies, and why? (A couple sentences each)
Lecture 2
Next we’re going to discuss the environmental benefits of EVs.
- Read this summary of an important article on the benefits of EV’s. Optional: If you are interested, the full paper is available here.
- Lucas Davis, “All charged up and no place to go”
Response questions
- We’re currently heavily subsidizing electric vehicle adoption at both the state and local level. Are these subsidies actually a good idea?
- These subsidies typically focus on the “extensive margin” (new car purchases), not on the “intensive margin” (driving). Is looking at EV sales growth alone a sufficient measure of progress towards reducing gasoline consumption? (A couple sentences each)