A spatial planning perspective on the global deployment of public electric vehicle charging stations

As electric vehicle (EV) adoption accelerates globally, understanding the global public EV charging landscape is becoming increasingly critical. This study investigates the spatial distribution of public EV charging stations (EVCSs) worldwide using a high-quality, global-scale, open-access dataset comprising over 450,000 EVCSs. Comparative analysis across China, the United States (US), and Europe reveals marked regional disparities in deployment patterns. In many European cities, EVCSs are more strongly concentrated in higher-density areas, whereas those in many Chinese and US cities are more often located in lower-density neighborhoods and in areas where housing prices are close to the citywide average. In Chinese cities, EVCSs are also more likely to be located in areas with less diverse surrounding amenities. In terms of accessibility, EVCSs in China and Europe are more frequently associated with lower road network density. These findings highlight deployment gaps and provide evidence to support more accessible and equitable EVCS planning globally.