Quantifying Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Electric Vehicle Charging

Poor availability of a nationwide, publicly accessible charging infrastructure in Europe is seen as a major impediment for a stronger market penetration of electric vehicles (EVs). Making privately owned charging points for electric vehicles accessible to the public in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) charging network may present a remedy to this problem. Developing such a P2P service, among others, requires knowledge on the customers' willingness to pay for EV charging. We survey customers of a utility company in a mid-sized European city to assess their willingness to pay for EV charging. Using choice-based conjoint analysis, we obtain customers' willingness to pay differentiated by charging point's characteristics and its location. The estimates are subsequently implemented in form of price recommendations into an actual web-based P2P platform that enables private individuals to provide and access EV charging services. This research contributes to the knowledge on the design of payment models in general and on the design of EV charging infrastructure services in particular. Poor availability of a nationwide, publicly accessible charging infrastructure in Europe is seen as a major impediment for a stronger market penetration of electric vehicles (EVs). Making privately owned charging points for electric vehicles accessible to the public in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) charging network may present a remedy to this problem. Developing such a P2P service, among others, requires knowledge on the customers' willingness to pay for EV charging. We survey customers of a utility company in a mid-sized European city to assess their willingness to pay for EV charging. Using choice-based conjoint analysis, we obtain customers' willingness to pay differentiated by charging point's characteristics and its location. The estimates are subsequently implemented in form of price recommendations into an actual web-based P2P platform that enables private individuals to provide and access EV charging services. This research contributes to the knowledge on the design of payment models in general and on the design of EV charging infrastructure services in particular.

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