University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), including battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, are an important technology for decarbonizing transportation and reducing urban air pollution. A lack of public charging infrastructure is frequently cited as a primary barrier to continued, widespread PEV market growth. Public and private stakeholders are investing in public charging infrastructure, in part because they hope the presence of more infrastructure will encourage consumers to purchase PEVs. However, public charging infrastructure can only affect PEV sales if people—especially those who are not already PEV owners—see it, and by seeing it become more likely to consider purchasing a PEV. Researchers at UC Davis examined this relationship. They used data from a survey administered in the first quarter of 2021 of approximately 3,000 California car-owning residents, as well as data on PEV registrations and public charger locations. They modeled the relationships between multiple variables.