Charging stations for electric vehicles are not only good for the environment, their usage also boosts spending at nearby businesses, according to a study published this month in Nature Communications.
MIT researchers collected anonymized credit and debit card transaction data from roughly 140,000 businesses in California that were within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of an EV charging station, studying spending activity around more than 4,000 stations in total. They compared the findings to similar businesses in the same area that weren’t near charging stations.
The researchers found that opening a charging station boosted annual spending at each nearby business by an average of about $1,500 in 2019 and about $400 between January 2021 and June 2023. Collectively, that amounts to nearly $23,000 in cumulative spending increases in 2019 and roughly $3,400 per year from 2021 through June 2023.
“These increases are equal to a significant chunk of the cost of installing an EV charger, and I hope this study sheds light on these economic benefits,” said lead author Yunhan Zheng, a postdoc at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, in an MIT blog post.
“The findings could also diversify the income stream for charger providers and site hosts, and lead to more informed business models for EV charging stations,” Zheng said.
Indeed, the joint gas station and convenience store business model could also be adopted to EV charging stations, she said. Owners of such establishments could provide chargers for a fee and also diversify their revenue stream with food, drinks and other consumer goods while drivers wait for their vehicles to charge.
Moreover, the study’s findings could support the creation of new funding models for charging stations, Zheng said.
For example, surrounding businesses could share the costs of construction so they could benefit from the added spending. The researchers found that the annual boost from a charging station on all its surrounding businesses would cover roughly 11.2% of the average infrastructure and installation cost of a standard charging station.
Other studies have focused on the effects on retail sales from traditional transportation infrastructure, such as rail and subway stations, bus stops and street configurations, said another co-author of the MIT study, Jinhua Zhao, an MIT professor of cities and transportation.
“This research provides evidence for an important, emerging piece of transportation infrastructure and shows a consistently positive effect on local businesses, paving the way for future research in this area,” Zhao said.
About The Author
KUEHNER-HEBERT is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience. Reach her at [email protected].