Call for Papers: Economics and Policy of Electric Transportation Charging Infrastructure

Reliable and available charging infrastructure is critical to decarbonizing the transportation sector through electrification. Additionally, the electric vehicle (EV) charging industry is projected by numerous industry analyses to grow to over $100 billion in value over the coming decade. Fostering the growth of an efficient and equitable EV charging industry gives rise to many challenges for research.

The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (MIT CEEPR) will host a workshop on the Economics and Policy of Electric Transportation Charging Infrastructure in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Thursday and Friday, October 24 and 25, 2024. The workshop begins with dinner on Thursday and a full day on Friday, with a potential session for presentations by early-career scholars on Thursday afternoon. The conference will be organized by Omar Asensio (Georgia Institute of Technology), Elaine Buckberg (Harvard University), and Jing Li (Tufts University). A special session will be reserved for practitioners from leading organizations in EV charging to discuss data and research challenges.

The organizers are particularly interested in work that brings new data or insights to bear on economics and policy questions about EV charging infrastructure. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Where and how much are charging stations used? Where should charging stations be built?
• What is the new evidence on the quantitative effect of charging infrastructure availability on EV adoption and/or use?
• How are charging stations priced, and is the market for charging competitive?
• How can reliability in charging infrastructure be modeled and measured? What is the impact of charging infrastructure reliability on charging demand, electric vehicle miles traveled, and EV take-up? What are the effects of regulation on infrastructure reliability?
• How can open data about station locations and availability address drivers’ anxiety about range and congestion? How do drivers find charging stations, and what is the role of data availability in consumers’ choices about whether to purchase an EV and how much to drive it?
• How should regulation and policy consider any network effects and other spillovers that may be present in this industry?
• How can interactions with the electricity infrastructure and sector be streamlined?
• What is the role of local policy in supporting EV charging infrastructure, and how does EV charging infrastructure support local communities?

Extended abstracts will be considered, but full drafts are preferred. Please submit papers using this form by 11:59PM EDT, September 10^th, 2024. PhD students, post-doctoral scholars, early-career scholars, and researchers from under-represented groups are strongly encouraged to submit. Limited funds to cover travel and accommodations are available for presenters and discussants.

The conference program will be announced by September 24^th, 2024 on the Salata Institute website. This post will be updated with the schedule and further details. We welcome attendance by all interested scholars. Please stay tuned for registration information.