Preferences for public electric vehicle charging infrastructure locations: A discrete choice analysis

Electric vehicles are finding it difficult to make faster inroads into the markets, and one of the most cited barriers to the faster adoption of electric vehicles in the academic literature is the lack of charging infrastructure and the associated range anxiety. However, densifying the charging infrastructure network is cost-intensive and should be meticulously planned. This study estimates discrete choice models with workplace, leisure place and highway as the location choice alternatives to investigate the electric vehicle public charging location preferences of the potential electric vehicle buyers. Mixed multinomial logit models and integrated choice and latent variable models are developed based on the attributes of the charging stations, viz. charging time, waiting time, charging cost, distance to the nearest charging station, emissions, and the characteristics of the individuals such as age, gender, income, and daily travel distance. This study finds significant negative utility associated with higher values of charging times, waiting times, charging costs, distance to the nearest charging station, and emissions. The results also indicate that the marginal disutility related to waiting time is higher than that of charging time. In terms of socio-demographics, females and higher income groups are found to prefer the workplace as their place of charging. However, as the age increases, the inclination towards highway charging stations increases. This study also discusses some important policy implications that can help decision-makers and stakeholders better plan electric vehicle charging infrastructure.