Why are charging stations associated with electric vehicle adoption? Untangling effects in three United States metropolitan areas

Many policies to support battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption involve roll-out of public charging stations. While greater density of public charging stations is correlated with higher BEV adoption, the mechanisms underlying this effect are not well understood. We use a sample of 1467 online survey respondents living in the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Atlanta in the United States to investigate three potential mechanisms through which greater public charging station density could shape BEV adoption intent. These three potential mechanisms are lower range anxiety, lower perceived mobility restriction, and more positive pro-BEV subjective norms. Multiple regression with ordinary least squares is used to investigate associations between charging station density and adoption intent. Multiple mediation analysis is then used to evaluate the three potential mechanisms for impact of charging station density on BEV adoption intent, and indicates that greater perceived subjective norms in support of BEVs explain much of the association between charger density and adoption intent. Range anxiety plays a smaller and less robust role as a mechanism, while perceived mobility restriction has no direct or indirect effect on BEV adoption intent. That is, we found no indication that BEV adoption intent is influenced by expectations that BEVs are unable to meet mobility needs. Findings indicate that norms are particularly important for investments in charging infrastructure to translate to more BEVs on the road.