Yu Qiao, Que Tristan, Cushing Lara J, Pierce Gregory, Shen Ke, Kejriwal Mayank, Yao Yuan, Zhu Yifang
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Department of Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jun 18;16(1):5291. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60091-y.
Equitable coverage and reliable operation of electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) are crucial for a just transition to a carbon-free future. Yet, a comprehensive national analysis of public EVCSs across different communities is lacking in the United States. Here, we utilize real-world reviews (n = 470,142) from a user-generated content platform to analyze public EVCSs at the census tract level. We find that disadvantaged communities (DACs) have 64% fewer public EVCSs per capita than non-DACs. This disparity rises to 73% when considering renters in multi-dwelling units. Additionally, EVCS users in DACs and urban areas experience significantly more reliability issues compared to those in non-DACs and rural areas, primarily related to hardware and technical failures. Given the limited access to home charging in DACs and their underserved public infrastructure, these findings highlight critical equity concerns and call for targeted investment in EVCS infrastructure and reliability improvements, particularly in DACs.
电动汽车充电站（EVCS）的公平覆盖和可靠运行对于公正地过渡到无碳未来至关重要。然而，美国缺乏对不同社区公共电动汽车充电站的全面全国性分析。在此，我们利用来自用户生成内容平台的真实世界评论（n = 470,142），在人口普查区层面分析公共电动汽车充电站。我们发现，弱势社区（DAC）的人均公共电动汽车充电站数量比非弱势社区少64%。考虑到多单元住宅中的租户时，这种差距上升到73%。此外，与非弱势社区和农村地区的用户相比，弱势社区和城市地区的电动汽车充电站用户遇到的可靠性问题明显更多，主要与硬件和技术故障有关。鉴于弱势社区家庭充电机会有限且其公共基础设施服务不足，这些发现凸显了关键的公平问题，并呼吁对电动汽车充电站基础设施进行有针对性的投资并提高其可靠性，特别是在弱势社区。
