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Understanding the impact of public charging infrastructure on the consideration to purchase an electric vehicle in California

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Apr 07, 2023 version files 1.07 MB

Abstract

This research tests an implicit assumption on investment in plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure: people who are not already interested in PEVs will see public PEV charging and become interested in PEVs. Data from a survey of car-owning households in California are combined with data on public PEV charging and PEV registrations to estimate a structural equation model of the extent to which participants have considered acquiring a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and whether participants report seeing PEV charging. The model controls for socio-economic and demographic measures and participants’ awareness, knowledge, and assessments of PEVs, and the known correlation between PEV registrations and public charging locations. Using logistic ordinal regression we also assess whether charger density near workplaces affects the results. All results contradict the assumption that people will see charging infrastructure and that more charging—rather than more people seeing charging—means more people will consider purchasing a BEV or PHEV. Rather, prior interest and positive assessments of PEVs, allow people to see PEV charging. In short, interest in PEVs is a prerequisite to people seeing PEV charging.