When do you charge your electric vehicle? A stated adaptation approach

Abstract

A large scale deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) is likely to contribute to a more sustainable transport system. However, charging EVs will increase the load on the electricity network. The maximum load may be minimized by coordinating the timing of charging activities, in order to spread electricity demand more equally over the course of a day. In this study, based on a stated-choice experiment, the effects of two different temporal price differentiation strategies on stated charging time are investigated, including socio-demographic, behavioural and socio-psychological variables. In a situation without charging time coordination, a peak in charging events is likely to occur during the early evening. Temporal price differentiation has a significant influence on charging time and in particular the level of price differentiation matters. The likelihood to change charging time differs and different alternative time slots are chosen when comparing high to low levels of price differentiation. People that have more knowledge about EVs have a higher chance to change their charging time, whereas people that have the tendency to plan their trips long time beforehand are less likely to adjust their charging time in the scenarios with temporal price differentiation.