Introduction of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to University Campuses: A Case Study for the University of Georgia from 2014 to 2017

• Published in: Batteries (Basel) Vol. 4; no. 2; p. 27
• Main Authors: Hovet, Sierra, Farley, Blair, Perry, Jason, Kirsche, Kevin, Jerue, Michael, Tse, Zion
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Case studies; College campuses; electric vehicle; Electric vehicle charging; electric vehicle charging station; Electric vehicles; Engineering; Infrastructure; Methods; Public spaces; Stations; vehicle usage analysis; United States > US
• DOI: 10.3390/batteries4020027
• ISSN: 2313-0105

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular in the United States of America (USA). EVs attract buyers with benefits including energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. As EV usage grows, more public spaces are installing EV charging stations. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of EV charging station usage at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia. Three ChargePoint EV charging stations at UGA were used to collect data about each of 3204 charging events that occurred from 10 April 2014 to 20 June 2017. The charging event data included start date, start time, length of parking time, length of charging time, amount of energy delivered, and the postal code entered by the user during ChargePoint account registration. Analytical methods were proposed to obtain information about EV charging behavior, charging station occupancy, and geolocation of charging station users. The methodology presented here was time- and cost-effective, as well as scalable to other organizations that own charging stations. Because this study took place at a university, the results presented here can be used as a reference for EV charging station usage in other college towns in the USA that do not have EV charging stations but are planning to develop EV infrastructure.