TamagoCar: Using a Simulation App to explore Price Elasticity of Demand for Electricity of Electric Vehicle Users

The integration of electric vehicles (EV) into the smart grid is bounded by high variability of demand for electricity, unwillingness of consumers to change behavior as well as low degree of product familiarity. Especially the absence of real-time energy tariffs constrains the widespread use of EVs as sustainable alternatives to a combustion engine. We propose to explore the behavior of EV users with a specifically designed application, TamagoCar, which combines the users’ real world driving behavior with a simulated EV environment. We hypothesize that the EV users will adjust their demand for electricity as a function of uncertainty about future price, range anxiety, uncertainty about future travel and social influence. With our application we enable the end users to gain experience with using an EV as well as adjust their electricity demand in response to real-time price changes with respect to their individual preferences, social influence and macroeconomic conditions.