Project Summary

Electric vehicles (EVs) have evolved rapidly owing to technological advancements and a growing interest in renewable energy to eliminate transportation’s dependency on fossil fuels and mitigate the effects of climate change over the next decades. Despite the many benefits they bring, EVs could exacerbate inequality due to access disparities. Especially, low-income communities and communities of color are at risk of missing out the advantages of transportation electrification owing to a lack of charging infrastructure that is not equitably dispersed. The objective of this proposed study is to create a better understanding of EV infrastructure equity from multi-source data analysis, using Connecticut as a case study. Based on qualitative and quantitative data collected, we plan to develop innovative measurements to assess EV infrastructure and GIS-based maps to display key information related to EV infrastructure equity. The expected findings and products from this study could provide a holistic view of the EV infrastructure from the equity perspective and motivate dialogues between policy-makers, practitioners, academics, and civil organizations to design proactive mitigation strategies to avoid equity issues in the inevitable trend of EVs for future mobility.