Availability of private charging infrastructure influences readiness to buy electric cars

Abstract If countries are to fulfil their pledges to the Paris Agreement, then EVs will almost certainly have to diffuse rapidly, dominating the market within 20 years. The results of a randomized controlled survey that we administered suggest that access to private charging infrastructure may become a factor influencing people’s willingness to purchase EVs in the coming years, potentially an important factor. People who own their parking space, and for whom private charging access is unproblematic, were almost twice as likely to indicate a high willingness to purchase an EV as those who park their car on the street, and 50% more likely than those who park their car in a shared lot or garage. For those parking on the street, suggesting that chargers would be installed free of charge resulted in these people being equally likely as parking space owners to indicate a high willingness to purchase an EV. For those people parking in a shared lot or garage, this suggestion had a more moderate effect.