Project Summary
The market for electric passenger vehicles and trucks heavily relies on the installation of public chargers, but the current distribution of electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities are not meeting the needs of disadvantaged communities. Existing studies discuss needs for public chargers at the state, county, and city level; however, the current inequitable allocation suggests a need to identify local infrastructure gaps especially for low-income disadvantaged communities. This project developed a tool to project the demand for and gaps in public charging infrastructure for both passenger EVs and electric trucks and applied the tool to Los Angeles County. The tool uses small scale transportation analysis zones (TAZs) to model the current transportation system in the County. The key advantage of this tool is its capability to simulate individual travel behavior across different socio-economic groups with special attention to disadvantaged areas. The tool can assess charging performance and gaps in and across communities under different scenarios, and then consider the growth of the EV market, transportation system electrification targets, and individual charging habits to identify each community’s future charging demand.
