Webinar: New findings on plug-in vehicle charging decisions and planning implications 

Don MacKenzie is an assistant professor of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. He is currently researching the vehicle use and charging decisions of plug-in electric vehicle owners, with support from the National Science Foundation. Dr. MacKenzie's other research interests include the environmental and social equity implications of emerging shared-use transportation services, vehicle automation, and real-time information. Before coming to the UW, he earned his PhD from MIT's Engineering Systems Division. To learn more about Don, click here.

Where should public charging stations be located to maximize the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and minimize gasoline-fueled vehicle travel? Is public investment in recharging infrastructure required at this time? Should public policies focus on Level 1, Level 2, or DC fast charging? Answering these questions and others aimed at growing the PEV market requires an understanding of charging behavior - the preferences of individual drivers that determine when, where, and how they choose to charge their vehicles. Ongoing efforts at the University of Washington (UW) are pursuing this foundational work. Don MacKenzie, Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the UW, will present the results of two recent projects in this area: an analysis of 125 instrumented Toyota Prius plug-in hybrids with charging station data from multiple sources, and a stated-choice experiment conducted on a sample of battery-electric vehicle drivers. Professor MacKenzie will also share some lessons learned from the work, for practitioners and other researchers.