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An early look at plug-in electric vehicle adoption in disadvantaged communities in California

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  • Canepa, Kathryn
  • Hardman, Scott
  • Tal, Gil

Abstract

Prior research on plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption has revealed that early adopters tend to be wealthy consumers, this may mean that the benefits of PEVs are not being equitably distributed. Extensive research has shown that low-income and minority commutes are disproportionately impacted by environmental and transportation injustice. PEVs can contribute to importing air quality and could provide lower cost and more reliable transportation to low-income and minority communities if they are deployed there. This paper takes an early quantitative look at PEV adoption in disadvantaged communities (DACs), which are census tracts in California that suffer from a combination of economic barriers and environmental burden. We use six datasets to examine PEV market share, socioeconomic characteristics of PEV owners, and PEV charging infrastructure. Analysis confirms that adoption of both new and used PEVs in DACs occurs at very low rates - 5.7% and 8.7% of all PEV sales, respectively - that are disproportionate with the number of households that reside in these areas. Owners of new or used PEVs in DACs have slightly lower incomes than PEV owners in non-disadvantaged communities. However, as a group they have higher incomes, are higher educated, and fewer are home-renters than the DAC average, indicating that they are not representative of their surrounding community. Encouragingly, charging infrastructure is present in DAC census tracts, suggesting that further PEV adoption could be supported. Additionally, there are higher proportions of used PEVs in DACs than new PEVs, which may indicate potential for adoption of these lower-priced vehicles, however rates of adoption are still low. Despite the considerable benefits that PEVs could offer in DACs, there are still substantial barriers to PEV. Key barriers for policy-makers to continually address are the prohibitive price of the technology, lack of knowledge about or ease of accessing PEV incentives, and lack of access to public or private charging infrastructure located near multi-unit housing.

Suggested Citation

  • Canepa, Kathryn & Hardman, Scott & Tal, Gil, 2019. "An early look at plug-in electric vehicle adoption in disadvantaged communities in California," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 19-30.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:78:y:2019:i:c:p:19-30
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.03.009
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    3. Roy, Avipsa & Law, Mankin, 2022. "Examining spatial disparities in electric vehicle charging station placements using machine learning," SocArXiv hvw2t, Center for Open Science.
    4. Sanghamitra Mukherjee, 2021. "A Framework to Measure Regional Disparities in Battery Electric Vehicle Diffusion in Ireland," Working Papers 202119, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    5. Siobhan Powell & Gustavo Vianna Cezar & Liang Min & Inês M. L. Azevedo & Ram Rajagopal, 2022. "Charging infrastructure access and operation to reduce the grid impacts of deep electric vehicle adoption," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 932-945, October.
    6. Barajas, Jesus M & Wang, Weijing, 2023. "Mobility Justice in Rural California: Examining Transportation Barriers and Adaptations in Carless Households," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt0dv3b769, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    7. Wee, Sherilyn & Coffman, Makena & Allen, Scott, 2020. "EV driver characteristics: Evidence from Hawaii," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 33-40.
    8. Ma, Shao-Chao & Fan, Ying, 2020. "A deployment model of EV charging piles and its impact on EV promotion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    9. Guo, Shuocheng & Kontou, Eleftheria, 2021. "Disparities and equity issues in electric vehicles rebate allocation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
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    11. Qiao Yu & Brian Yueshuai He & Jiaqi Ma & Yifang Zhu, 2023. "California’s zero-emission vehicle adoption brings air quality benefits yet equity gaps persist," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Gan, Zhongying, 2023. "Do electric vehicle charger locations respond to the potential charging demands from multi-unit dwellings? Evidence from Los Angeles County," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 74-93.
    13. Chakraborty, Debapriya & Bunch, David S. & Brownstone, David & Xu, Bingzheng & Tal, Gil, 2022. "Plug-in electric vehicle diffusion in California: Role of exposure to new technology at home and work," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 133-151.
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    15. Hsu, Chih-Wei & Fingerman, Kevin, 2021. "Public electric vehicle charger access disparities across race and income in California," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 59-67.

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