Pricing Plug-in Electric Vehicle Recharging in Multi-Unit Dwellings: Financial Viability and Fueling Costs

This research explores whether pricing structures and levels likely to provide multi-unit-dwelling (MUD) drivers with financial motivation to recharge at home might provide sufficient opportunity for station cost recovery. Compared to a popular 50 mile-per-gallon gasoline hybrid baseline,
residential charging prices might have to be kept below $0.26/kWh, $1.00/hour of active
charging, or $85/month—levels that only support roughly $1,000–2,000 in facility investment
per vehicle served. Increasing facility utilization while minimizing per-vehicle costs is key to
improving financial viability and, across pricing structures, could more than double the cost
recovery potential. Further, site hosts’ choice of pricing structure will differentially affect their
ability to remain financially viable in the face of input-parameter uncertainty.