Spatial planning of public charging points using multi-dimensional analysis of early adopters of electric vehicles for a city region

The success of a mass roll out of electric vehicles (EVs) is largely underpinned by establishment of suitable charging infrastructure. This paper presents a geospatial analysis exploring the potentials for deployment of publicly accessible charging opportunities based on two traits – one, trip characteristics (journey purpose and destinations); two, availability of adequate charging (space and time). The study combined census statistics indicating lifestyle trends, family size, age group and affordability for an administrative region in the North-East England to identify three categories of potential EV users – ‘New Urban Colonists’, ‘City Adventurers’ and ‘Corporate Chieftains’. Analyses results indicate that Corporate Chieftains, primarily residing in peri-urban locations, with multi-car ownership and availability of onsite overnight charging facilities form the strongest group of early adopters, irrespective of public charging provision. On the other hand, New Urban Colonists and City Adventurers, primarily residing in the inner-city regions, show potentials of forming a relatively bigger cohort of early EV adopters but their uptake is found to be dependent largely on public charging facilities. For effective EV diffusion, catering mainly to the demands of the latter group, development of a purpose-built public charging infrastructure both for provision of on-street overnight charging facilities in residential locations and for fast charging at parking hubs (park and ride, amenities and commercial centres) is recommended for prioritisation in order to overcome the limitations of non-availability of private off-street parking to these users.