UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies

As the markets for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and the deployment of electricity infrastructure to charge them are in an initial, dynamic launch phase, there is an absence of stable data on PEV purchase and charging behavior. How then are social, economic, and environmental effects of PEVs being estimated? How are plans for PEV and electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) production made? How are the effective means to manage that behavior anticipated? In the absence of data, analysts make assumptions. These are often simple assumptions, or perhaps simplifying assumptions. In this chapter we compare PEV charging assumptions to real world measures and assess the implications of changing these assumptions for analysis, markets and policy.