Planning and Environmental Innovation Lab

Electric vehicle (EV) charging patterns are expected to strain electricity grids, particularly during peak residential demand in the evening. Demand-side management emerges as a potential strategy to manage this surge and align demand with supply constraints. This study investigates consumer preferences related to electric vehicle charging, focusing on the determinants influencing charging decisions during periods of electricity supply constraints or renewable energy abundance. We employ a discrete choice experiment on a representative sample of the Israeli population to assess preferences for various charging scenarios and extrapolate marginal willingness to pay values to understand the effectiveness of different incentive schemes. Key findings include a preference for evening charging, with average discounts of 20% to shift demand to nighttime, 23% to daytime, and 37% to weekends. Distinct preferences were observed among Sabbath observers, suggesting that lifestyle factors influence charging patterns. Based on our analysis, a 0.07 USD/kWh discount is needed to incentivize daytime charging, while marginal willingness to pay for green electricity reaches 0.06 USD/kWh, suggesting that communicating the renewable share in the energy mix may help reduce the discount needed. We also find that uniform tariffs may create unintended consequences, such as new peak loads in high-EV, low-renewable regions. Therefore, we recommend regionally differentiated time-of-use tariffs, further refined by season, day type, and time of day. These findings support the design of targeted incentives that reflect consumer preferences while improving grid resilience and renewable energy integration, especially in isolated electricity systems like Israel.