Sharing mode selection and optimal pricing for an electric vehicle manufacturer

Abstract

This paper studies the sharing mode selection and optimal pricing for an electric vehicle manufacturer (EVM). We evaluate three sharing modes, i.e. Mode N, car sales business only, Mode S, car sales business and car-sharing service provided by a self-built sharing platform, and Mode T, car sales business and car-sharing service provided by a third-party sharing platform. Further, we consider two types of government subsidy policies: purchase and production subsidies. We find that for purchase subsidies, the EVM should select Mode S if the transaction cost per sharing service is low, and select Mode T otherwise; for production subsidies, the EVM should select Mode S. Regardless of the subsidy policy, the optimal sales prices of EVs under Mode N and Mode S are the same, but both are lower than that under Mode T. The optimal rental price of EVs under Mode S is lower than that under Mode T.

KEYWORDS:

• Electric vehicle
• B2C car-sharing service
• sharing mode selection
• government subsidy
• pricing

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their critical and constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 72031002] and the 111 Project of China [grant number B16009].