With government incentives and increased gas prices, electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining in popularity and market share. Improving technologies, including longer ranges and faster charging speeds, as well as lower operational costs, are driving people to make the switch, which means there needs to be more accessible charging stations.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s (UMass Amherst) partnered with VHB to prepare an EV Charging Plan to meet future demand for public EV charging. By taking inventory, collecting data, and assessing UMass Amherst’s publicly available EV charging facilities and their supporting electrical infrastructure, VHB studied current charging demand patterns. Our team is providing a high-level summary of locations with existing conduit rough-ins not yet utilized and characterized the distribution of electrical capacity to supply additional charging spaces.
Leveraging professional knowledge and best practices gathered from UMass Amherst’s peer institutions, VHB worked with a group of internal stakeholders at the University to develop policies that UMass Amherst needs to effectively implement an EV Charging Plan for public users (i.e., faculty, staff, students, and visitors).
VHB prepared a brief survey to understand the future needs of the University’s employees, students, and visitors, which led to an in-depth analysis of the current trends driving the growth in EVs and their charging requirements with an emphasis on local and regional trends in public EV charging. Price sensitivity was also addressed, helping to advise how UMass Amherst should approach costs for the use of EV charging infrastructure.
