Public Residential Charging of Electric Vehicles: an exploration of UK user preferences

In the global transition from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles (EV), drivers without a driveway or attached garage at home are most likely to be dependent upon public charging options if they adopt an EV. To better understand how such drivers can be supported to switch to EVs, this study assesses how public charging might best mimic key attributes of private residential EV charging by investigating the preferences of a sample of 2,001 car drivers from households in the UK without a driveway or attached garage. A stated choice experiment offered on-street or car-park options for overnight, public residential charging (PRC) with seven attributes – charging fee, space guarantee, duration of stay, walk time, security measures, walk experience, and payment frequency. Logit and latent class modelling are used to identify the relative importance of those attributes, and the manner in which their valuation varies according to study participants’ experiential legacy. This legacy is to some extent informed by their social identity; residential environment; and parking conditions, perceptions and intentions. Walk experience is shown to be the most highly valued non-monetary attribute overall, not least because many women consider this a particularly important attribute of PRC options. Meanwhile, parking-related variables, such as whether participants currently park on-street or pay to park, influences both price-sensitivity, willingness to walk to PRC and the valuation of a space guarantee. We conclude that diverse public residential charging options should be designed to offer certainty, reliability and affordability in safe, attractive locations near households without parking on their private property.