New Cars on the Block - The Impact of Public Charging Infrastructure on BEV Ownership

Abstract

To slow climate change down, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is crucial. Part of the solution could be the electrification of cars, but market penetration is progressing slowly so far. It is still unclear to what extent specific user groups, e.g., without private parking/charging space, are willing to buy BEV in the long term. The present study is a first step to holistically measure the existing findings on perceived barriers in terms of their importance and to transfer them into a vehicle ownership model. In a two-stage approach, potential factors influencing the purchase decision were first ranked (MaxDiff), followed by a focus on some of the most relevant factors and a more precise measurement in decision simulations (ACBC). Even though this study is only an intermediate step towards a holistic model, the results show that building charging infrastructure is important for the purchase decision but not a panacea, as vehicle parameters such as range or acquisition costs are equally or more important. Furthermore, it becomes evident that a dependence on public charging infrastructure alone is seen more negatively for the purchase of an e-vehicle than the use of gas stations for vehicles with combustion engines, which leads to the conclusion that market penetration among users without the possibility of charging at home or at work will be slow or even non-existent given the current state of technology.

Keywords: battery electric vehicles, car ownership, public charging, dependence, choice tasks, maxdiff

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002451