Utility or equity? Analyzing public electric vehicle charger allocations in Austin, Texas

Disadvantaged groups in the U.S. often face limited access to public Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations, raising concerns about charging equity. While federal programs like Justice40 acknowledge these issues, conventional analyses often overlook key dimensions by relying on predefined thresholds and underusing accessibility measures. To fill this gap, this study compares two equity analysis approaches: one measuring accessibility inequality and another measuring accessibility poverty. We conducted a case study in Austin, Texas, during which we calculated accessibility measures for public EV charging stations. For measuring accessibility inequality, we employed tools such as the Lorenz Curve, Gini Coefficient, Theil Index, Segplot, Palma Ratio, and concentration curve. For measuring accessibility poverty, we used needs-gap analyses, such as transit desert analysis and the FGT score. Our analysis reveals limitations in traditional methods and demonstrates how alternative approaches complement traditional methods by measuring access gaps on a continuous scale.