Local Benefits Exceed Costs For Widespread Charging Infrastructure For On-Street Urban Parking

Abstract BackgroundLack of charging infrastructure is a critical barrier to the dissemination of electric cars and many cities have started installing charging stations in public parking spaces.We do a cost-benefit analyses of installing charging stations in public parking spaces, with different assumptions for uptake of electric cars, topology of charging stations, environmental benefits, and costs for infrastructure. We use the case study of Zurich, which is representative of dense European cities.ResultsWe find that building charging stations in residential areas has net positive benefits, as long as the charging stations are used at least one-third of the daytime. Net benefits remain positive if we remove noise or climate benefits.ConclusionsAiming to equip 40% of public residential parking spaces with charging points, and then accelerating or slowing down the deployment of charging stations based on their actual use appears to be a robust strategy that will result in positive net public benefits for city residents and stimulate uptake of electric cars.