One charging station is not the other: spatial-temporal analysis of public charging stations

The lack of public charging infrastructure still remains an important barrier for many potential EV drivers. With more people driving EVs, data on their charging transactions can help urban planners to improve the future charging infrastructure. In this paper we demonstrate how this data can be used to understand the temporal charging behavior at existing charging points (CPs), as well as to explain where to expect which type of charging behavior. Based on real-world charging session data from 392 public charging points (CPs) in the Brussels Capital Region, we find that CPs can be classified into four behavioral clusters based on their connection profile. Furthermore, we find that spatial variables describing the land-use, socio-economic and mobility related factors of the CP’s location significantly correlate to its temporal behavior. These results can be used for urban planners that seek a data-driven expansion of their public charging infrastructure.