Abstract
This report presents evidence that gasoline prices have a larger effect on demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) than electricity prices in California. A spatially-disaggregated panel dataset of monthly battery electric vehicle registration records was matched to detailed records of gasoline and electricity prices in California from 2014-2017, and the matched data was used to estimate the effect of energy prices on battery electric vehicle demand. Two distinct empirical approaches (panel fixed-effects and a utility-border discontinuity) yield remarkably similar results: a given change in gasoline prices has roughly four times the effect on battery electric vehicle demand as a similar percentage change in electricity prices.
