Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives

Many countries have ambitious fleet electrification targets as part of their decarbonisation strategies. The transition will involve government supports, upfront costs to the consumers, and substantial impacts on the existing transportation tax base. This paper analyses the costs and benefits of def...

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Main Authors: J.Andrew Kelly, Yulu Guo, J.Peter Clinch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019822500171X
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author J.Andrew Kelly
Yulu Guo
J.Peter Clinch
author_facet J.Andrew Kelly
Yulu Guo
J.Peter Clinch
author_sort J.Andrew Kelly
collection DOAJ
description Many countries have ambitious fleet electrification targets as part of their decarbonisation strategies. The transition will involve government supports, upfront costs to the consumers, and substantial impacts on the existing transportation tax base. This paper analyses the costs and benefits of defined pathways toward the national passenger electric vehicle (EV) target in Ireland from the perspective of the consumer, the exchequer, and society as a whole. This shift from a single-focus cost-benefit analysis enables consideration of differing priorities and issues for each group and offers quantified analysis to support the design and evaluation of policy in terms of rates of fleet change, consumer incentives and grant schemes, rebalancing of exchequer revenue, and the dynamic refinement of EV policy. Results demonstrate that EVs can deliver substantial benefits for car purchasers and costs for the exchequer. A negative net social benefit (NSB) is estimated to 2030, however, this ignores the requirement to meet legally-binding climate and air abatement commitments that would arguably justify the omission of the cost of public funds thereby turning the NSB positive. Notably, the earlier delivery of the fleet electrification strategy assessed delivers three times the consumer benefits of the later EV adoption rate scenario. The analysis also highlights specific adjustments that could be adopted to improve the performance of the overall policy package, including insights for refining the electrification pathway strategy, further evidence for raising public awareness of EV benefits and costs, and recommended reforms for the tax system and EV grant scheme to achieve better revenue balance into the future.
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spelling doaj-art-9378c4dac95c4b83be977eb3bc5a92642025-08-22T04:57:35ZengElsevierTransportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives2590-19822025-07-013210149210.1016/j.trip.2025.101492Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectivesJ.Andrew Kelly0Yulu Guo1J.Peter Clinch2EnvEcon Decision Support, 11 Priory Office Park, Blackrock, Dublin A94 PH04, Ireland; Corresponding author at: UCD Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin D04 V1W8, Ireland.EnvEcon Decision Support, 11 Priory Office Park, Blackrock, Dublin A94 PH04, Ireland; UCD Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Richview, Belfield, Dublin D04 V1W8, IrelandEnvEcon Decision Support, 11 Priory Office Park, Blackrock, Dublin A94 PH04, Ireland; UCD Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Richview, Belfield, Dublin D04 V1W8, Ireland; UCD Earth Institute and UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, Belfield, Dublin 4 D04 V1W8, IrelandMany countries have ambitious fleet electrification targets as part of their decarbonisation strategies. The transition will involve government supports, upfront costs to the consumers, and substantial impacts on the existing transportation tax base. This paper analyses the costs and benefits of defined pathways toward the national passenger electric vehicle (EV) target in Ireland from the perspective of the consumer, the exchequer, and society as a whole. This shift from a single-focus cost-benefit analysis enables consideration of differing priorities and issues for each group and offers quantified analysis to support the design and evaluation of policy in terms of rates of fleet change, consumer incentives and grant schemes, rebalancing of exchequer revenue, and the dynamic refinement of EV policy. Results demonstrate that EVs can deliver substantial benefits for car purchasers and costs for the exchequer. A negative net social benefit (NSB) is estimated to 2030, however, this ignores the requirement to meet legally-binding climate and air abatement commitments that would arguably justify the omission of the cost of public funds thereby turning the NSB positive. Notably, the earlier delivery of the fleet electrification strategy assessed delivers three times the consumer benefits of the later EV adoption rate scenario. The analysis also highlights specific adjustments that could be adopted to improve the performance of the overall policy package, including insights for refining the electrification pathway strategy, further evidence for raising public awareness of EV benefits and costs, and recommended reforms for the tax system and EV grant scheme to achieve better revenue balance into the future.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019822500171XCost-benefit analysisConsumer costs and benefitsExchequer costEnvironmental benefitsFleet electrification
spellingShingle J.Andrew Kelly
Yulu Guo
J.Peter Clinch
Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Cost-benefit analysis
Consumer costs and benefits
Exchequer cost
Environmental benefits
Fleet electrification
title Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
title_full Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
title_fullStr Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
title_full_unstemmed Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
title_short Who benefits from fleet electrification? quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
title_sort who benefits from fleet electrification quantifying the costs and benefits of transportation electrification strategies from different perspectives
topic Cost-benefit analysis
Consumer costs and benefits
Exchequer cost
Environmental benefits
Fleet electrification
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019822500171X
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AT jpeterclinch whobenefitsfromfleetelectrificationquantifyingthecostsandbenefitsoftransportationelectrificationstrategiesfromdifferentperspectives