University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

Adoption of alternative fuel vehicles by African-American, Hispanic and low-income consumers has lagged adoption by Asian, White and high-income consumers. Understanding the low-rate of adoption for certain demographic groups is of particular interest to California. In 2015, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act (SB 350) was signed into law and requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to study barriers to zero-emission transportation options faced by low-income consumers. This study analyzes data for over 400,000 California vehicle sales between 2011and 2015, containing information on the price paid by the consumer, the location of dealership, the zip code of the buyer and buyer demographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender, income, age) for each transaction. Researchers test for the presence of two commonly asserted barriers to electric vehicle (EV) adoption: (1) price discrimination against low-income consumers and (2) limited selection of EVs at dealerships proximate to disadvantaged communities, by comparing the prices and distance traveled for buyers of EVs in different demographic groups.  As a control, researchers compare EV sales to sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. Researchers find little evidence that price discrimination amongst demographic groups or differences in EV availability explain low rates of EV adoption.