Los Angeles will be a U.S. leader in electric vehicle adoption, according to a new study published by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and the UCLA Anderson School of Management. “This offers the city the opportunity to reduce the local and global environmental impacts of vehicle travel, as most Angelenos rely on an automobile for much of their travel,” said Luskin Center project director Juan Matute.
“Based on our study, we expect that rising gasoline prices will naturally shift the demand from conventional combustion cars to electric vehicles,” adds study co-author Jeffrey Dubin, UCLA Anderson School of Management adjunct professor of economics and statistics.“For many buyers, electric vehicles will be hard to ignore,” said Luskin Center director and associate professor of public policy, J.R. DeShazo. “However, the analysis predicts just over 2,000 electric vehicles will be sold in Los Angeles in 2011. This number is due to the limited supply of electric vehicles; even if more residents are inclined to purchase them, it just isn’t possible right now.”
The research team predicts that the supply of electric vehicles will be limited until 2013 or 2014. In 2015, the team predicts that electric vehicles will comprise 9% of new vehicles purchased by Los Angeles residents. One area where the City can have a significant impact is by helping renters and residents of multifamily housing—who comprise about 70% of L.A. residents—access charging areas. Many of these residents do not own their garage, and face difficulties in installing electric vehicle charging equipment at home. Those who park on the street have even greater difficulty accessing charging at home.
UCLA Anderson MBA students Ross Barney, Annamaria Csontos, Jonathan Um, and Nini Wu conducted the year-long study under the direction of Professor Jeffrey Dubin. The research team worked with the City of Los Angeles and the Clinton Climate Initiative to conduct the study.
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