Work

Understanding public views on electric vehicle charging: A thematic analysis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Studies have identified EV charging as a major barrier to EV adoption. We analyse public opinion related to EV charging to understand perceived charging-related barriers and successes. We extract EV charging related posts from Twitter using a pipeline based on BERTopic and Large Language Models, with manual review, to create a thematic structure driven by the data, then analyse these themes using message sentiment and volume. Strong interest and positive sentiment exists around charging technologies and public infrastructure deployment, indicating hope for the future of EV adoption and public deployment meeting demand. Negative opinion exists around blocked and broken chargers, the impact of cold climate, EV ”subsidies” and since 2020 a weakening of the economic argument for EVs. Home charging is viewed enthusiastically by those with access to it and as a barrier and inequity by those that do not. Green issues received the least interest of all our themes.

Source: Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives

DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2025.101325

Authors: Colin Ashby, David Weir, Peter Fussey

Language: English

Topic: Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,400

Funders: Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Horizon 2020