Impact of Government Policies on the Electric Vehicle Industry, Environment, and Society: A Systematic Review

Countries worldwide are implementing government policies to promote the development of the electric vehicle industry, and this is attracting increasing research attention. However, a systematic and holistic discussion on the effectiveness of these policies is still lacking, which makes it difficult to understand comprehensively how government interventions influence the electric vehicle industry, environment, and society. To address this research gap, we conduct a systematic literature review of 76 selected empirical studies on electric vehicle policy effectiveness that used observational data. Grounding it in three core theoretical perspectives (i.e., signaling, information, and policy mix), we develop an integrated and multidimensional framework to theorize about the impact of four types of electric vehicle policies (i.e., demonstration, financial, regulatory, and soft instruments) on five outcomes (i.e., research and development performance, financial performance, market performance, environmental impact, and social impact). We further examine the (in)consistencies of prior research findings using the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index and provide promising directions for future research. This study advances the conceptual and empirical understanding of electric vehicle policy effectiveness and offers valuable practical implications for researchers, policymakers, and authorities seeking to explore and manage its complexity.