Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Geography

Major Professor

Ran Tao, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Steven Reader, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Yi Qiang, Ph.D.

Keywords

GIS, Moran’s I, Transportation, Spatial Analysis

Abstract

Carbon emission is a key contributor to global warming and climate change. Reducing carbon emissions has posed as a challenge for several decades, prompting a rising alliance of nations, municipalities, corporations, and other establishments to commit to achieving net-zero emissions. One of the trends in many countries is to replace traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with alternative fuel vehicles, especially electric vehicles (EVs). The Global EV Outlook 2021 report by IEA reveals that there was a 41% surge in the registration of electric cars in 2020, resulting in the sale of approximately 3 million electric cars worldwide. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the study of EVs has gradually accelerated due to environmental pollution and energy-related issues.

One critical issue that has not been fully addressed is the spatial mismatch between the growing number of EVs and the public charging facilities on a local scale. On the one hand, some regions lack sufficient public charging stations, which results in inconvenience for EV owners who have limited access to charging at home or workplace. On the other hand, we’ve seen some other regions with excessive charging capacity due to severe competition among different EV charging station companies. Besides the mismatch between charging demand and supply that is geographically heterogeneous, there also exists inequality issue, i.e., the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups receive disproportionally fewer opportunities to own or charge EVs.

In this thesis, I plan to investigate this issue with a case study in Florida. With a population of over 21 million, Florida is the third most populous state in the United States and is home to more than 16 million motor vehicles, according to the US Department of Transportation (2021). The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy states that EV sales in Florida increased by 20% between 2018 and 2019 and sales of EVs jumped 53% in 2021. A series of laws, incentives and funding opportunities have been initiated to encourage and regulate EVs in Florida. This thesis takes counties in Florida as analytical units to explore whether there is a spatial mismatch between EVs and their matched charging stations and compare the results with the number of registered ICE vehicles and gas stations in Florida. Registered EVs data was provided by Florida Power & Light Company. Location data of EV charging station was downloaded from U.S. Department of Energy website.

This thesis investigates whether there is a spatial mismatch between the number of EVs and EV charging stations in Florida. The study found that areas in the northern Panama City, Tallahassee, and Gainesville regions exhibit a significant spatial mismatch due to a lower number of EVs and public charging stations per capita and a higher number of gasoline stations per capita. In contrast, the Miami area has a developed Tesla EV charging network and a significant number of Tesla EV owners, indicating the need for more non-Tesla charging stations to meet the demand for future EV development. Although the Tampa and Orlando areas do not show a significant spatial mismatch, they still require more investment in EV charging infrastructure. Overall, the results of the study suggest the need for more EV charging stations to facilitate the replacement of ICE vehicles with EVs and can guide urban planning for site selection of EV charging stations in the future.

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