An empirical study on the major considerations in the installation of public electric vehicle chargers in private buildings to achieve the optimal distribution

Abstract

This research studies the major considerations of the real estate developers and owners in the installation of public electric vehicle (EV) chargers to attain the optimal distribution pattern in Hong Kong. In recent years, to achieve carbon neutrality, governments around the world have been substantially promoting the use of EVs. Similarly, in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government (the Government) has been strongly boosting the usage of EVs to provide a more sustainable living environment to the citizens. Yet, despite the encouragement and incentive measures provided by the Government, it is believed that the provision of public EV chargers may not be able to fulfill the surging demands of EV drivers in Hong Kong while the location and the distribution pattern of these public EV chargers become significant concerns for the public. To encourage the real estate industry to provide more public EV chargers, the Government has implemented several measures including tightening the requirements for granting GFA concessions to public car parks in private buildings, amending the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines and marketizing the public EV charging services. Two spatial analysis methods, namely Average Nearest Neighbor and Global Moran’s I, are conducted to investigate the distribution pattern of public EV chargers in Hong Kong. From the empirical results, it is discovered that the locations of public EV chargers in Hong Kong may deviate from the optimal distribution pattern because these public EV chargers may not be able to fulfill the demand of EV drivers. Moreover, semi-log regression and probit regression are used to explore the relationship between the number of public EV chargers in a building and the major considerations of property developers and owners to find out the effects of these considerations. It is observed that financial incentive is the most critical factor that the real estate industry may consider in the installation of public EV chargers while the effects of technical difficulties, spatial issues and income level are not significant. Therefore, it is recommended that the Government can first, conduct a comprehensive study based on more methods and perspectives to investigate the demands for public EV chargers and provide more financial incentives to the real estate industry, especially the developers and owners of residential buildings, to boost the supply of public EV chargers by the private sector. The financial incentives can be provided in the form of public-private partnerships and tax and/or premium rebates to subsidize the installation and operation cost of public EV chargers in private developments. Moreover, streamlining the approval process of the design, installation and testing of public EV chargers can further reduce the financial burdens on the real estate industry. Apart from that, numerous policies can also be implemented by the real estate industry to increase property values and generate more profits from the public EV charging service, such as using the public EV charging service as one of the marketing approaches to attract environmentally conspicuous potential customers and displaying advertisements at the public EV charging stations.