## 1 Introduction  
COVID-19, first detected in Wuhan, Hubei province in China, was officially declared a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020 [1]. Lockdown restrictions around the globe and social distancing protocols were introduced to minimize the spread. As of 17 August 2021, COVID-19 led to over 200 million infections and 4.4 million deaths [2]. The introduction of vaccines has provided a potential pathway to end the pandemic. However, the emergence of new variants has posed a different challenge toward ending the pandemic [3]. More than 4.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered by 17 August 2021 [2]. Nevertheless, the impacts of COVID-19 were severe on various sectors and industries. This includes the negative impacts on the economy [4], mental health [5], education, and tourism [6]. The pandemic also had an impact on the energy sector. Although the overall electricity consumption was lower due to the lockdown measures, there was an increase in household electricity consumption [7]. The energy sector has become a point of focus due to the emerging climate change concerns. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), impacts of climate change are evident and, in some cases, irreversible [8]. Energy consumption from the transportation sector is significant, accounting for over 25% of world energy consumption [9]. To provide a more sustainable alternative, research, development, and adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) are significantly increasing. Global sales of EVs increased by about 140% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 [10]. This significant growth amidst the pandemic is a promising sign for global EVs transition. EVs on average require longer charging times compared to the refueling of traditional vehicles. This has generally caused skepticism in the adoption of EVs. Fortunately, the improvement in battery technology including faster charging methods and the development of charging infrastructures around the globe [11] are potential solutions to EV charging. The emergence of novel EV technologies including digital twin with connected Internet of Things and bidirectional vehicle-to-grid features [12] promises further growth. However, it is still important to understand the charging behavior in public charging spaces for effective management of charging demand. According to the sustainable development scenario which considers the climate goals, 230 million EVs are projected by 2030 representing 12% of road vehicles [10]. This massive increase could potentially lead to uncontrolled charging as a result of overwhelming public charging demands in spaces such as shopping malls and universities. Uncontrolled charging could lead to catastrophic impacts on the power grid including overloading of the power equipment and an increase in power losses [13]. Moreover, the availability of charging infrastructure plays a primary role in EV market demand [14] and the mobility behavior of different EV fleets including logistics and office differs greatly in terms of plug-in duration and energy consumption [15]. Therefore, understanding and quantifying public EV charging behavior is essential with the growing charging demands. Data-driven approaches to modeling of charging behavior present a more realistic and comprehensive representation than compared to simulation or mathematical modeling that contains assumptions [16]. However, uncertain scenarios such as a global pandemic impact the accuracy of any modeling. During these times, it is possible that the charging load is unevenly distributed. For example, due to a large number of people staying indoors for a longer period of time, it is likely that more people would utilize residential charging. In addition to the potential overuse of household appliances, this could lead to serious pressure on the electricity grid. As such, these scenarios should be independently studied and integrated into various modeling.