Project Summary
Stringent vehicle fuel emission standards and various government incentive programs have supported the escalating adoption of electric vehicles (EV), both battery (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV), by households as an alternative to conventional gasoline vehicles. Charging infrastructure is an essential component of the policy design required to support EV adoption. The Plug-In Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis will investigate EV adoption, vehicle charging behaviors, and the impact of pricing on charging time, location, and speed. The first research question that will be addressed is, “Where and why do electric vehicle owners charge their vehicles and what type of infrastructure is used: Level 1, Level 2, or DC Fast Charger?” To address this, an exploratory analysis will be conducted considering the influence of demographics, vehicle attributes, and access to charging facilities on choice of charging infrastructure. This project will also address the following questions: “Do households with photovoltaic systems (rooftop solar) display different charging behavior than non-photovoltaic system owners? Does the former group use their BEVs (among other vehicles in their household) more than the latter group to lower the total household operation cost? Will the charging behavior change when the default pricing structure for utilities in California moves to time-of-use rates? What is the importance of battery-storage in this scenario? What will be the time frame in which households can expect to break-even on their cost of ownership of EV and the solar system?” Households often purchase rooftop solar systems and EVs at the same time to cut down vehicle operation costs. Currently, with net metering and special pricing schemes for EV owners, it is expected that the households with photovoltaic systems will opt to sell solar power during the day and charge their vehicle at night when electricity prices are lower.
