Build first, subsidize after! : A comparitive analysis of policy drivers behind BEV adoption in mature EU markets

Sammanfattning

To reach carbon neutrality by 2050 as agreed in the EU's Green Deal in 2019, a reduction of greenhouse gases across all sectors is needed. This includes the road transportation sector which accounts for 12,1% of global greenhouse gases, making it a critical sector for emissions reduction. To address this problem, the research question in this study focused on how policy incentives impact BEV adoption in The Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Spain between 2019-2024. The study adopted a quantitative approach using hierarchical regression, based on secondary panel data. Among the independent variables, only charging infrastructure was a significant predictor of BEV adoption, whereas purchase subsidy and tax exemption were not significant. While policy incentives were important, they were not individually responsible for BEV adoption, as the results showed that countries' institutional context played a significant role in BEV adoption as well. The findings were in line with both DOI- and institutional theory, but they contradicted the policy mix concept. For policy makers, infrastructure investments should be prioritized over financial incentives. Future research should expand the sample size by including more countries and a longer timeframe to improve statistical power and generalizability.