Lokale Ladeinfrastruktur als Treiber der Elektromobilität – Lokale Ladeinfrastruktur und die Diffusion von Elektrofahrzeugen: Eine Difference-in-Differences-Analyse der Gemeinde Kaiseraugst

This study examines whether the installation of the first public electric vehicle (EV) charging station in the Swiss municipality of Kaiseraugst in 2019 led to a differential increase in the share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) relative to comparable municipalities without such an intervention. The research addresses a broader policy debate on the effectiveness of local charging infrastructure as a driver of electromobility diffusion. The empirical analysis is based on annual municipality-level panel data covering the period from 2015 to 2022. The treatment group consists of Kaiseraugst, while the control group includes structurally similar municipalities within the same canton that did not install public charging infrastructure during the observation period. The identification strategy relies on a difference-in-differences design with municipality and year fixed effects, complemented by a linear trend model and an event-study specification to assess pre-treatment trends and dynamic effects. The outcome variable is the share of battery electric vehicles among all registered passenger cars at the municipal level. The analysis aims to estimate the causal effect of the first public charging station on local EV diffusion while accounting for common time trends and time-invariant municipal characteristics. The study contributes to the empirical literature on local infrastructure policies and technology diffusion by providing evidence from a small-scale, quasi-experimental setting.