Emerging energy economics and policy research priorities for enabling the electric vehicle sector

Abstract

We highlight key emerging research priorities on the climate- and industrial-policy driven pathway to passenger car electrification, including both pure battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, using a three-pronged approach. It includes examining journalistic reports from a research perspective, corroborating the determined research priorities with recent literature, and consulting a diverse group of experts in policy, technology, fuel and infrastructure fields. We delineate eight overarching themes that correspond to distinct research challenges and prospects and rank them by integrating expert ratings on importance in enabling the EV sector, novelty and feasibility using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework. Specific emerging research issues related to – (i) assessing the impact of U.S. and European policies on the competitiveness of their domestic electric vehicle (EV) battery industry in relation to China and global trade in batteries; (ii) exploring the prospect and effect of rising metal prices on the battery and EV markets; (iii) assessing the EV price trends and the continued necessity of government subsidies in light of declining battery costs and EV price wars among automakers – ranked among the top three. The sensitivity analysis conducted within the MCDM framework, utilizing three distinct response weighting schemes, demonstrated greater variability in expert opinions-based ranking for two issues compared to others: (i) the geopolitical battle for control of critical metals for EVs, and (ii) price war and competition in the EV market. Pursuing this new research agenda should help inform policymakers, and industry decision makers to ensure a smooth ride towards passenger car electrification.