nep-nud New Economics Papers
on Nudge and Boosting
Issue of 2023‒09‒18
one paper chosen by



  1. Show Me the Money! Incentives and Nudges to Shift Electric Vehicle Charge Timing By Bailey, Megan R.; Brown, David P.; Shaffer, Blake; Wolak, Frank A.

  1. By: Bailey, Megan R. (University of Calgary); Brown, David P. (University of Alberta, Department of Economics); Shaffer, Blake (University of Calgary); Wolak, Frank A. (Stanford University)
    Abstract: We use a field experiment to measure the effectiveness of financial incentives and moral suasion “nudges” to shift the timing of electric vehicle (EV) charging. We find EV owners respond strongly to financial incentives, while nudges have no statistically discernible effect. When financial incentives are removed, charge timing reverts to pre-intervention behavior, showing no evidence of habit formation and reinforcing our finding that “money matters”. Our charge price responsiveness estimate is an order of magnitude larger than typical household electricity consumption elasticities. This result highlights the greater flexibility of EV charging over other forms of residential electricity demand.
    Keywords: Electric Vehicles; Demand Response; Nudges; Experiment
    JEL: Q41 Q48 Q55 Q58 R48
    Date: 2023–08–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:albaec:2023_008&r=nud

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