Accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles among housing cooperatives

While the greenhouse gas emissions from other major sectors have fallen from the 1990 levels, emissions from road transport have risen by 20.5 % in the EU. One key element of the strategy for low-emission mobility is to... [ view full abstract ]

While the greenhouse gas emissions from other major sectors have fallen from the 1990 levels, emissions from road transport have risen by 20.5 % in the EU. One key element of the strategy for low-emission mobility is to accelerate the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs). However, in 2017 in the EU, only 1.7 % of new vehicles sold were battery electric or hybrid electric vehicles. In Finland, over a third of the population is living in housing cooperatives, where individual residents do not have authority to make decisions concerning acquirement of infrastructure needed for charging batteries of EVs. The level of infrastructure and attitudes of other residents may either encourage or discourage residents in buying an EV. In this paper, we study how the possibly growing number of EVs has been taken into account in Finnish housing cooperatives, and what are the barriers that slow down the implementation. The study was conducted by an online survey that yielded 202 responses from representatives of housing cooperatives and house managing agencies in Päijät-Häme region. The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. As expected, the results indicate that EVs are not yet common among housing cooperatives. The main perceived reason, which approximately half of the respondents named, for the slow acceleration of deployment of EVs is lack of currently interested residents. However, the results also indicate that EVs have been discussed in approximately every other housing cooperative, and that there is rising interest towards them.

Keywords: electric vehicles, deployment, infrastructure, households, housing cooperative