Ownership and use of electric vehicles in the Washington, DC, metro area

Abstract

We use the travel diaries and other information in the 2018 Regional Travel Survey from the Washington DC metro area to examine the ownership and driving patterns of battery vehicles (EVs, comprised of BEVs and PHEVs) used for personal transportation purposes. We find that the households that own EVs are wealthier, own more vehicles, and have more family members and more working family members. Probit models suggest that the opportunity to charge at work is the most important predictor of EV ownership. By contrast, the availability of publicly accessible charging stations at the time of the purchase of a vehicle plays a very small role. Households that own EVs exhibit similar trip mode choices as households that own exclusively internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, drive their EVs similar distances—overall and for specific purposes—and at similar times of the day or night. This provides support for origin–destination trip matrices and models that regard EVs as similar to ICEs—at least in the Washington, DC, metro area.