Electric vehicle potential within existing technical standards and commuting patterns

Project Description

Using 2016 Census anonymised records on individual families' commuting activity, along with standardised assumptions on electric vehicle (EV) distance capability, this project aims to identify the number of families with the potential to install EV charging infrastructure at their homes; and who have existing commuting distances that are comfortably within the capacity of a standard EV battery charge. These families are potential candidates for switching one of their cars to an EV, without loss to their regular commuting patterns/times and without encountering commonly cited problems of limited range. The owners of these cars are not necessarily 'early-adopters' but ordinary households busy with usual family routines. Convincing them to switch their second car to an EV that can meet their regular transport needs is an opportunity to seed the diffusion of EVs across many dimensions of Irish society, rather than the narrower demographic that 'early-adopters' tend to be. This research project will map potential EV hotspots, and identify the predominant socio-demographic attributes of these hotspot areas, both to aid development of EV policy measures, and for design of targeted marketing campaigns. The research also aims to provide scenarios on how the size and location of EV hotspots will evolve as EV battery technology improves.