On the price elasticity of residential electric vehicle charging in Denmark

As power systems increasingly rely on renewable energy generation and accommodate flexible loads, understanding short-term demand flexibility becomes essential. Denmark provides a particularly relevant setting with a high share of variable renewable generation and widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Using hourly charging session data from approximately 5000 residential charging stations over the span of more than three years, this study provides extensive evidence on the very short-term price elasticity for demand of residential EV charging. As a benchmark, we compare this estimate with the short-term price elasticity of general household electricity consumption among Danish households. Employing an instrumental variable approach based on exogenous wind and solar power generation, we estimate substantial responsiveness of EV charging to hourly electricity prices. We estimate a price elasticity of demand of –0.756 for residential EV charging, compared with –0.062 for general household electricity consumption, highlighting the flexible nature of EV charging. Users shift charging toward hours with lower electricity prices, a behaviour that intensified during the 2022 energy crisis and persisted after prices returned to stable levels. The evidence supports dynamic pricing as a tool to unlock short-horizon flexibility, while highlighting the risk of synchronized charging peaks with increased EV adoption.