Estimation of the environmental values of electric vehicles in Chinese cities

Automobile exhaust emissions have been one of the serious air pollution sources in most Chinese cities and the adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs) can solve this problem to some extent. In this context, NEVs can be seen as a kind of public good, part of whose value cannot be reflected in a market price. This paper estimates the environmental values of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and studies the influencing factors based on a survey conducted in China's four biggest and developed cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Contingent valuation method (CVM) and the ordered Probit model are employed to achieve the objective. The results show that the least average environmental values of a BEV are 30.60 thousand CNY in the four cities. People with higher income, already having private cars, knowing more about BEVs, thinking that BEVs can improve air quality or with higher levels of education are willing to pay more. Therefore, the policymakers should take the positive WTP of consumers for the environmental effects of BEVs into consideration when pricing the BEVs and reconsider the existing subsidies to BEVs.