Bundling electric vehicles with off-grid wind power: A strategy for high-electricity-Price markets

Persistently high electricity prices in markets like the European Union and Japan significantly impede electric vehicle (EV) adoption by eroding their operational cost advantage, thus jeopardizing transportation decarbonization targets. This study proposes a novel market-based strategy: Bundling EVs with off-grid wind energy generators (WEGs), grounded in product bundling theory. We develop a multi-agent sequential game model to analyze the interactions between a profit-maximizing manufacturer and cost-minimizing consumers, incorporating the dual uncertainties of wind generation and driving demand. The model is calibrated using real-world data from France and the United States. Results demonstrate that the bundling model promotes EV adoption when the utility premium outweighs the WEG cost, particularly under high electricity prices and favorable wind conditions. Specifically, by reducing effective charging costs through self-consumption in markets such as France and the United States, deploying a spatially optimized 2 kW WEG boosts EV adoption by 7–10% and increases corporate profits by 18–30% relative to standalone sales. Moreover, this strategy aligns economic and environmental objectives, achieving substantial life-cycle emission reductions of 25–28%. Consequently, this bundling strategy mitigates adoption barriers while concurrently leveraging EVs as storage and WEGs for off-grid generation to advance zero‑carbon transportation • Proposes a novel EV-Wind bundling strategy to reduce charging costs via off-grid self-consumption. • Develops a multi-agent sequential game model incorporating dual uncertainties of wind and driving demand. • Validates a spatially optimized 2 kW wind turbine solution for decentralized, off-grid EV charging. • Demonstrates 7–10% higher adoption, 18–30% profit growth, and 25–28% life-cycle emission reductions. • Achieves a Pareto improvement in social welfare, aligning corporate profits with zero-carbon transportation.