Electric Vehicle Planning

Expanding plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure is critical to advancing transportation electrification, a key strategy to meet California’s climate and air quality goals. California has initiated several actions to support PEV infrastructure planning and deployment. For example, the California Energy Commission funds regional PEV readiness efforts that focus on light-duty electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

In collaboration with regional and local entities, the Luskin Center for Innovation has conducted much of the analysis that has and continues to inform PEV planning in Southern California and beyond. This work falls into the following three categories.

CURRENT PROJECT(S)

Climate Action - Community-driven eLectric vEhicle chArging solutioN (CA-CLEAN)

Researcher(s): Yifang Zhu, Greg Pierce, Rachel Connolly, and partners from Redeemer Community Partnership, Coalition for a Safe Environment, and Pacoima Beautiful

Funder: UC Office of the President

We are partnering with three communities across the City of Los Angeles (communities in South LA, Wilmington/surrounding areas, and Pacoima/surrounding areas) to improve procedural equity for electric vehicle adoption and charging station siting decisions in disadvantaged communities. We are conducting a three-workshop series in each community, aiming to elicit community perspectives and priorities with respect to public charging station deployment, and ultimately co-design a public charging station siting framework that maximizes community benefits. This project is part of a larger effort that is a partnership with several other UCLA research teams and California State University, Northridge.

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PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Workforce Impacts of Achieving Carbon-Neutral Transportation in California (2022 report)

Researcher(s): Dan Coffee, Aditya Voleti, Joshua Segui, Allison Yang, J.R. DeShazo, and Weilong (David) Kong

This technical report reviews the underlying analysis, data, and economic input/output modeling that supported our conclusions in the 2021 report Driving California’s Transportation Emissions to Zero. The researchers find that transportation decarbonization and the widespread adoption of zero-emission vehicles will spur the creation of new multi-billion dollar industries, resulting in tens of billions of dollars in annual consumer savings, and creating hundreds of thousands of full-time-equivalent jobs, while also driving significant contractions in some industries focused on servicing fossil fuel-burning vehicles.

Read the report

An Electric Vehicle Charging Station Siting Strategy for the South Coast (2021 Report)

Expanding Opportunities in Multi-unit Dwellings and Workplaces

Researcher(s): J.R. DeShazo, James DiFilippo, Mark Hansen, Jason Karpman and Gregory Pierce

Funder: South Coast Air Quality Management District – Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC)

This report identifies residential and workplace areas in Southern California where investing in charging infrastructure can spur EV adoption, ultimately helping to reduce carbon emissions and local air pollution. Cities and others can use the the Southern California Plug-in Electric Vehicle Atlas and the report to identify where charging investments would make the most difference.

Read the report

Evaluating Multi-Unit Resident Charging Behavior at Direct Current Fast Chargers (2021 report)

Evidence From EVgo’s High Power Charging Plaza Pilot

Researcher(s): James Di Filippo and J.R. DeShazo

Funder: EVgo Services

The researchers evaluated a multi-unit dwelling-focused fast charging pilot program developed by EVgo, America’s largest public network of EV fast chargers. The study found that apartment and condo dwellers plug in their cars at fast chargers more frequently and closer to home than their non-multi-unit dwelling resident counterparts. This suggests that fast charging stations are an important component for encouraging EV adoption among condo and apartment residents, who are often low- and moderate-income.