Exploring Disparities in Battery Electric Vehicle Affordability and Availability

## Exploring Disparities in Battery Electric Vehicle Affordability and Availability

**.white[John Paul Helveston]**, George Washington University<br>
Zain Hoda, George Washington University<br>
Daniel Fisher, George Washington University<br>
Lujin Zhao, George Washington University<br>

January 09, 2025

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## Addressing the **“innovation-needs paradox”**:

## The people most likely to benefit from a technology<br>are often the last ones to adopt it.

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### .center[**Data**: 44.8M vehicle listings from ~60k dealerships (marketcheck.com)<br>(2016 - 2021, inclusive)]

#### New Vehicles

#### Used Vehicles

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# .center[How accessible are BEVs?]
 
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## .center[Availability]

1) How many dealerships are carrying BEVs?

2) How hard is it to get to a BEV dealer?

]
 
<br>

## .center[Affordability]

3) How affordable are BEVs?

4) How many people are eligible for the used PEV subsidy?

]

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# How many dealerships are carrying BEVs?

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## **~1 in 3** dealers carried a BEV in 2021 (nationally)

<br>

## Up from<br>**~1 in 10** in 2016

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## **New** BEV availability growing faster than **Used**

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- BEV inventories still low at most dealerships
- Something of a "ZEV Effect" in new market
- Used market more diffuse

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# How hard is it to get to a BEV dealer?

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background-color: #fff

## “Access burden”: additional travel time to see a BEV

#### Access burden:

1. Find closest CV and BEV dealerships from census tract centroid. 
2. Compute road travel time* to each dealership: `$t_{\mathrm{PEV}}$` and `$t_{\mathrm{CV}}$`
3. Compute “Burden” as difference in travel time: `$b = t_{\mathrm{PEV}} - t_{\mathrm{CV}}$`

<br>

*Road travel times obtained using<br>Open Street Road Map (OSRM)

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class: center
background-image: url('images/travel_burden_map.png')
background-size: contain

### BEV access burden has improved over time, but large gaps remain

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### Nationally, BEV travel burden is declining, both in magnitude and variation.

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### Largest disparities in BEV travel burden is in **rural** areas, but this is rapidly improving

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### BEV travel burden still high for **affordable** BEVs in rural areas

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# How affordable are BEVs?

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### Most BEV supply growth in higher-price segments<br>.font80[(and overall supply still quite low)]

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## .center[What is the median BEV (car) price premium over CVs?]

<br>

For each census tract:

- Obtain all BEV & CV car listings in a 2-hour isochrone.
- Compute median prices for each: `$p_{\mathrm{BEV}}$` & `$p_{\mathrm{CV}}$`
- Compute median premium as difference: `$p_{premium} = p_{\mathrm{BEV}} - p_{\mathrm{CV}}$`
- Divide `$p_{premium}$` by median annual income of census tract

]

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## Median BEV price premium as % of annual household income:

- New: 17.1%
- Used: 13.6%

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## BEV premium much higher for DACs:

- New: 28.5%
- Used: 23.7%

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# How many people are eligible<br>for the used PEV subsidy?

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# This is a hypothetical calculation

- Used BEV subsidy was not available until 2024

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# Some assumptions

- We use all BEV listings from 2016 to 2021 (inclusive). 
- We filter for only BEVs 2 years of age (current policy)
- For each census tract, we count the population as "eligible" if:

1. The median income is <= the income cap.
    2. The median used BEV price is <= price cap.

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Eligible population could increase from<br>1/3 to 2/3 if:

- Increase price cap: $25k -> $35k
- Increase income cap: $75k -> $100k

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# Thanks!

### Slides:

### https://slides.jhelvy.com/2025-ev-policy-council/

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# Extra slides

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### Access burden is shrinking in magnitude and spatial variation

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