Empirical Analysis to Investigate the Factors Influencing the Installation of Recharging Infrastructure for Commercial Electric Fleet

The commercial transport sector provides a promising avenue for electrification to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The limited availability of recharging facilities for electric vehicles (EVs) including both plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) can be the key deterrents to adopting EVs which needs a thorough empirical investigation. This study investigates the effects of the key concerns about PHEVs and BEVs, the existence of current onsite recharging facilities for EVs, and access to dedicated parking on the plan of the companies to purchase or install new or additional recharging facilities for EVs. Data from 2,301 companies in the 2019 California Vehicle Survey was analyzed, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative information on revealed (RP) and stated (SP) preferences. Results indicate concerns about PHEVs which reduce the chance of commercial sector to purchase or install new or additional recharging facilities for EVs including higher price, battery life uncertainty, cost of installing charging infrastructure, and lack of sufficient knowledge of the technology. Similarly, concerns about limited hauling capacity and lack of sufficient knowledge of BEVs showed to be the key deterrents. Companies having access to dedicated parking facilities and having existing onsite recharging infrastructure for EVs are more likely to purchase or install new or additional recharging facilities. Results of dominance analysis to rank all 19 variables indicate that the top five important explanatory factors relate to existing onsite EVs recharging infrastructure, access to dedicated parking facilities, and concerns about PHEVs and BEVs. Other interesting findings are discussed in paper.