Policy analysis for sustainable EV charging facility adoption using SEM-ANN approach

Abstract

Researchers often reported that the non-availability of public charging infrastructure is the primary concern in adopting electric vehicles (EVs) in India. Adopting a home charging facility would help at the preliminary stage of EV introduction, where there is less scope for public charging infrastructure. In addition, integrating the solar rooftop photovoltaic (PV) facility to generate electricity for EV charging would help to develop a sustainable change in the transport sector. Thus, this study aims to identify various influencing factors that affect individual householder's decisions to adopt a home charging facility supported by a rooftop PV system for EV charging. Also, this study identifies and prioritises the most suitable policy options to encourage users to adopt EVs, including home EV charging supported by rooftop PV facilities. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was conducted with individual householders in Ahmedabad, India, and 850 samples were used for the analysis. An integrated partial least squares-structural equation modelling with the artificial neural network method was adopted in this study. The study's findings reveal that the comfort and convenience of charging a vehicle at home, reduced range anxiety, comparatively lesser charging cost, flexibility to charge the vehicle, and no waiting to charge the vehicle are significant motivating factors for adopting a home charging facility. The willingness to adopt a rooftop PV system positively influences EV charging at home. In addition, providing a combined incentive to install home EV charging and a rooftop PV facility is the most preferred policy option. The outcome of this study would significantly help transport planners, policymakers, and researchers develop effective strategies and policies to boost EV sales in the Indian context.