AUTHOR=Liu Xiang-Feng , Wang Ling TITLE=The Effects of Subsidy Policy on Electric Vehicles and the Supporting Regulatory Policies: Evidence From Micro Data of Chinese Mobile Manufacturers JOURNAL=Frontiers in Energy Research VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.642467 DOI=10.3389/fenrg.2021.642467 ISSN=2296-598X ABSTRACT=

Subsidy policy to electric vehicles in China was initially launched in 2001. This study uses the perspective of the characteristics of subsidy policy and applies generalized propensity score matching (GPS) to estimate the impact of different subsidy policy intensities on the change in consumer demand for EVs and find the interval to optimize. The study shows that the optimization interval of the policy is in the 40%–70% treatment level, which maximizes the effect of the subsidy on China’s EVs. For a treatment effect lower than 40%, it is difficult to effectively create an incentive to enter the EVs market in China because consumers think that the product is difficult to satisfy the demand of too low technology; by contrast, for the treatment level higher than 70%, the cost of the high endurance mileage power battery increases exponentially, and the complementary effect of subsidies is insufficient. Consequently, we propose three suggestions: The government should 1) use big data technology to supervise subsidies and design a real-time reporting mechanism and punishment mechanism for subsidy-misuse; 2) adopt the incentive regulation to promote the battery range of new energy vehicles (e.g., optimizing the subsidy ladder, innovating the form of subsidies) and gradually eliminate low-technology product; and 3) reasonably design a targeted regulatory mechanism that increases the cost of fraud and breach of contract to encourage firms to truthfully report technical indicators.