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User-Reported Charging Experiences at Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in California - The electrification of the road transport sector is essential to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) may be closely linked to the charging experience of battery electric vehicle (BEV) owners at public charging stations. It is currently unclear whether the charging experience at public EV stations meets the needs of BEV owners. Most of current assessments of charging experience use operational measurement indicators capturing the perspectives of charging operators rather than considering the perspective of consumers. To address this knowledge gap, this study aims to understand the charging experiences of BEV drivers in California using self-reported data. To meet this aim, this study analyses user reviews (n = 8,974) of public electric vehicle charging stations using both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. A Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model was run to automate the identification of themes in the dataset, supplemented by a guided-seed term analysis and a manual content analysis. We identified reported experiences related to themes covering the charging station, chargers, charging event, and behavior of others at charging stations. Across these themes, we identified around 3,000 mentions that represent a negative charging experience. Charging-station related issues rated negatively include, but are not limited to, location & navigation problems, built environment and layout, and safety and security. Charger-related characteristics rated negatively include, but are not limited to, functionality, availability and accessibility issues, charging costs and speed. The theme ‘behavior of others’ captures the behavior of other vehicle owners at charging stations and customer service/getting help, which includes, but is not limited to antisocial behavior. Based on the analysis of the occurrence of these themes by specific seed terms that represent these themes, we found that the most reported themes are issues related to charger functionality and availability, app functionality, location and navigation, and amenities. The least reported themes pertain to anti-social behaviors of vehicle owners at charging stations, network issues, range-related issues, cancelling the EV membership subscription as a result of a negative charging experience, and charging initiation failure. The interaction with other vehicle owners was often reported as anti-social, inconsiderate behaviors, such as internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) or BEVs occupying BEV charging spots without charging, BEV owners unplugging other BEVs, or exceeding the recommended charging time or state. It is plausible that some of these behaviors are due to an insufficient availability of chargers, a lack of queue management systems, or the lack of developed etiquette on how to use charging stations. Overall, this research identified emergent issues with public charging in California experienced and reported by BEV drivers. The results highlight issues with public charging that could be addressed to improve the charging experience, and include issues associated with safety, technical problems with chargers, network connection issues, and issues with other BEV drivers and drivers of ICEVs. Some reported issues may require technical solutions whereas others may need behavioral interventions to address.
