Impact of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure

•An initiative to build 50,000 DC fast stations raises 2050 electrified mileage by 8%.•US initiatives will have sharp returns for GHG reductions through ∼30,000 stations.•An influx of DC fast stations can more effective electrify miles than public level 2.•The above holds even if only 1 DC fast station is built for every 10 level 2 stations.•Infrastructure can reduce GHGs, even if some of the expenses are borne by EV drivers. This work uses market analysis and simulation to explore the potential of public charging infrastructure to spur US battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales, increase national electrified mileage, and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By employing both scenario and parametric analysis for policy driven injection of public charging stations we find the following: (1) For large deployments of public chargers, DC fast chargers are more effective than level 2 chargers at increasing BEV sales, increasing electrified mileage, and lowering GHG emissions, even if only one DC fast charging station can be built for every ten level 2 charging stations. (2) A national initiative to build DC fast charging infrastructure will see diminishing returns on investment at approximately 30,000 stations. (3) Some infrastructure deployment costs can be defrayed by passing them back to electric vehicle consumers, but once those costs to the consumer reach the equivalent of approximately 12¢/kWh for all miles driven, almost all gains to BEV sales and GHG emissions reductions from infrastructure construction are lost.