Closing the gap: enhancing access to electric vehicles for lower-income households
Creators: name: Loh, Wei San
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2023

description: I explore ways to increase access to electric vehicles (EVs) for lower-income households in the United States. The adoption of EVs is crucial for reducing carbon emissions and transitioning to more sustainable transportation. However, their adoption has largely been limited to high-income households. To increase the adoption of EVs among lower-income households, it is important to understand their needs and concerns. Previous research has examined factors that influence the decision to purchase a new EV, but there is a lack of understanding about the barriers lower-income households may face when considering a second-hand EV, which may be more affordable for them than a new EV. In addition to that, even among existing low-income owners of used EV, there is a lack of studies that looked into their user experience and how this affects their future purchase decisions. To address this existing literature gap, I examine three research questions. First, I study the characteristics and concerns of individuals who own used EVs using data collected by a survey. The survey results reveal that owners from lower-income households were more concerned about the cost and availability of charging before purchasing an EV. Post-purchase, when they report having a less favorable experience with charging, they were less likely to own another EV in the future compared to higher-income owners. The survey findings also suggest that proximity to charging stations was positively associated with a better charging experience and an increased likelihood of owning a used EV in the future. This survey adds to our understanding of the concerns of used EV ownership particularly for lower-income groups. The survey results showed that lower-income individuals are more likely to report negative experiences with finding charging stations during their daily travel, suggesting a disparity in access to public chargers between lower- and higher-income individuals. This possibility led to my second research question, which sought to determine if there is a difference in access to public chargers between low and high-income households through a micro-simulation method. Using the San Francisco Bay Area as my case study, I found that high-income drivers do not have a significantly higher success rate in charging via public chargers than low-income drivers. The limited public charging infrastructure affects all income groups equally. This result prompted my third research question, aimed at finding ways to increase access to charging stations for all income groups. I evaluated various policy scenarios for finding the ideal placement of EV charging ports in the San Francisco Bay Area to achieve a minimum success rate of 95% for all income groups. The best solution was to add charging ports in areas that need them more, put more charging ports in apartment buildings, and use charging ports that charge faster. This approach minimizes the required number of new charging ports and associated installation costs. Together, these three research questions help to shed light on challenges and opportunities in finding ways to encourage higher EV adoption among lower-income households and increase access to public charging stations for all EV users.