• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.33-57
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• 2024

This study analyzes the purchase subsidy for electric light-duty vehicles in terms of environmental benefits and total cost of ownership(TCO). For the environmental benefits, we considered the emissions from the power generation mix and reflected the change in efficiency of electric vehicles according to the temperature distribution. The environmental benefits of driving electric vehicles were estimated to be between KRW 2.2 million and KRW 5.3 million. Also, the TCO of electric vehicles compared to diesel vehicles under the current purchase subsidy was estimated to be about KRW 3.6 million lower for business use and about KRW 6.6 million lower for non-business use. These results imply that it is reasonable to lower the unit price of the purchase subsidy even within the same budget. Moreover, the remaining budget could be better spent on upgrading the charging infrastructure, which would reduce the inconvenience of charging for potential buyers.