Charging forward for apartments: Quantifying the gap in electric vehicle ownership between apartments and houses – a Swedish case study

Abstract: This thesis provides the first empirical analysis of the electric vehicle ownership gap between vehicle owners living in apartments and those living in houses. Using 2018 survey data collected by RISE Viktoria on Swedish vehicle owners, this study uses regression techniques to quantify the extent to which occupants of apartments adopt electric vehicles at a lower rate compared to occupants of houses, after controlling for income and multi-vehicle ownership – two factors which previous literature have indicated are significant determinants of EV adoption. The regression analysis is supplemented by a literature review and findings from structured interviews conducted with real estate companies and charge point installers. The study finds that vehicle owners living in apartments are 2.5 times less likely to own an electric vehicle compared to those living in houses. The effect is statistically significant. Furthermore, the size of this effect is larger than that of either income level or multi-vehicle ownership. For example, households at the lowest annual income level (300,000 SEK) are only about 2.1 times less likely to own an electric vehicle compared to households at the highest income level (1,500,000 SEK); and single-vehicle households are about 2.16 times less likely to own an electric vehicle compared to multi-vehicle households. The most likely explanation suggested by the literature for this ‘apartment EV gap’ effect points overwhelmingly to difficulties occupants of apartments have in accessing home-charging infrastructure. Other factors such as size of the family unit and whether the vehicle owners were renters or homeowners may be possible contributing factors. Findings from interviews with a small sample of property developers and chargepoint installers indicate that the Swedish Bostadsrätt (tenant-owner association) system is a bottleneck for installing chargers in apartments. The interviews also provided some other insights which may be relevant when considering possible policy or industry-driven pathways going forward to bridge the electric vehicle-apartment gap.