Understanding spatial–temporal attributes influencing electric vehicle's charging stations utilization: A multi-city study

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining popularity across the globe. Various initiatives are being implemented to ensure that most of the operating vehicles on public roadways are EVs by 2050. Such initiatives include the construction of charging stations to improve EV charging accessibility. The utilization of the charging stations has not been explored to a great extent, despite its importance in future installations in various cities. This study evaluated the EV station utilization across eleven cities in three countries: the United States, Canada, and Scotland. The Negative Binomial (NB) regression model was applied to understand the influence of the spatial–temporal factors on the daily utilization of EV charging stations. In addition to the overall analysis, country-specific analyses were also performed. It was revealed that there is a great variation in daily EV utilization across the cities in different countries and within the country. In fact, only stations in Crieff, Scotland, showed lower predicted daily utilization, while cities in the United States had over two times predicted daily utilization compared to stations in Aberfeldy, Scotland. Furthermore, the longer the station has been in service, the higher the daily utilization, although there was significant variation across cities. Further, the day of the week and months of the year depicted consistent utilization patterns for Scotland and the United States but showed mixed findings for Canada. The study findings can help planners and policymakers improve the allocation of EV charging stations.