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Does electric mobility display racial or income disparities? Quantifying inequality in the distribution of electric vehicle adoption and charging infrastructure in the United States

Journal Article · · Applied Energy
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [4]
  1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States)
  3. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
  4. US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States)
  5. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Based on high-resolution spatial and temporal analysis, we quantify and evaluate the equality of plug-in electric vehicle adoption and public charging infrastructure deployment in the United States, examining current and historical trends, as well as racial and income-based disparities. Our results show that the current and historical distribution of conventional vehicle ownership and gas stations shows much more equality, in contrast to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. With regards to the distribution of electric vehicle adoption, the more electrified vehicle technology is adopted, the more significant income inequality becomes, on a national scale. Over the last several years, almost all states ameliorated income and racial/ethnic inequality for plug-in electric vehicle adoption, but that is not the case for charging infrastructure. The income inequality of the distribution of nationwide charging infrastructure is three times larger than that of gas stations. Individual states, as well as some of the largest urbanized areas, demonstrate a wide range of inequality associated with income and race/ethnicity. There is a need to better understand what drives this significant spatial heterogeneity, as it implies that additional strategies tailored to local and regional contexts may be necessary to achieve more equal distribution of infrastructure as electric vehicles become common beyond early adopters. Improving consistency and coordination of development of charging infrastructure across different states/regions would likely benefit inter-state travelers.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2476740
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2478840
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5400-90960; MainId:92738; UUID:63e8f686-1c32-473d-a7c5-d222f0af0ece; MainAdminId:75365
Journal Information:
Applied Energy, Journal Name: Applied Energy Journal Issue: Part A Vol. 378; ISSN 0306-2619
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,ENERGY STORAGE
charging infrastructure
electric vehicle
income
inequality
race/ethnicity
spatial and temporal heterogeneity