Effects of Charging Infrastructure Characteristics on Electric Vehicle Preferences of U.S. Private Car Owners: A Comparative Analysis between New and Used Car Buyers

Abstract

Used car market is a critical target of the mass adoption of electric vehicle (EV). However, most efforts of previous studies on EV adoption focused only on new car markets. In order to add to potential solutions for promoting EVs, this paper examines and compares the effects of charging infrastructure characteristics on preferences for electric vehicles of both new and used car buyers. This study conducted an online stated preference choice experiment among private car owners in the U.S., and the results of comparable binomial logistic models show that new and used car buyers generally share similar patterns in preferences for EVs with the exceptions for sensitivity towards purchase price difference, fast charging time, and home charging solutions. Results also show that price difference between an EV and a similar conventional car has a negative and significant influence on preferences for EV while used car buyers are roughly 1.3 times as sensitive to the price difference than new car buyers. Preference for EVs increases considerably with improvements on driving range and the effects on new and used car buyers are very close. The study also finds that better availability of charging infrastructure largely increases preference for EVs. The results further reveals that slow and fast charging has complementary effects on encouraging EV adoption.