How do we get the adoption of electric vehicles into a higher gear in Europe?

Abstract

The world is under the spell of the energy transition due to climate change. In 2015 197 parties agreed to the Paris-agreement, settings goals for limiting global warming. The transportation sector contributes for almost 25% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). A promising pathway to decrease emissions from fossil fuels in the transportation sector is to replace conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) with Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV).
This thesis analyses how the introduction of BEVs in Europe can be accelerated. Five countries were selected and categorised, based on Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory.
Based on a literature analysis, the factors influencing the adoption of the BEV were identified and selected. From these factors, an analytical research model was created. This analytical research model was applied to each country in order to compare the countries and draw conclusions. The analytical model consisted of the factors: government regulations and incentives, purchase price, total cost of ownership, charging infrastructure, model availability, consumer characteristics and BEV adoption.
The study concluded that governments have two tools to stimulate the BEV adoption: make the BEV cost effective compared to the ICE and stimulate the charging infrastructure. If it is financially more attractive to drive a BEV in a country than an ICE, this will have a major impact on BEV adoption. Making the BEV financially attractive can be done with tax measures and subsidies. In general, countries with relatively high car taxes can make BEVs more financially attractive than countries with relatively low car taxes, which results in a higher BEV adoption
In addition, a country must ensure that the charging infrastructure grows along with the BEV adoption. In general, it is a pre-condition to develop its slow charger network to stimulate BEV adoption. However, it depends on the country how the slow charger network should be set up. An indicator for this is the percentage of detached houses. If this percentage is high, a country must focus on private charging when setting up its slow charging network. With a low percentage of detached houses, a country must focus on public charging when setting up the slow charging network. Furthermore, it is expected that private parties will jump into the fast charging market. These private parties will only step in if a country has a relatively high BEV adoption, such as Norway and the Netherlands, because it is only then profitable. The study also shows that in countries with a large surface area, it is a precondition to develop its fast charging network. Therefore, when a country has a low BEV adoption, but a large surface, incentives are needed from the government to stimulate a fast charging network.
A financial attractive BEV environment and a well-developed charging infrastructure has as consequence in increasing the number of BEV models. When more BEV models enter the market in a country, consumers have more choice, and this has a stimulating effect on BEV adoption in a country.