Sustainable Electric Vehicle Development in the United States Through Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charging Station Expansion in Colleges

The transition to electric vehicles is an important strategy to curb climate change and reduce air pollution. However, the adoption of this new technology has been slower than required to reach the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. This research provides stakeholders with detailed guidance to incentivize electric vehicle adoption at a national level by promoting this new technology through campus colleges, considering that their populations are more receptive to them. This study integrates dispersed and diverse publicly available data, assessing and characterizing colleges in the United States, helping to craft a policy to incentivize investment in solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations based on the best strategies for each particular campus. A novel geospatial concentric buffer feasibility analysis was incorporated into the study to assess not only the campus proper but also its surrounding locations. Locally harvested solar energy was evaluated to power this new infrastructure and the potential to develop vehicle-to-grid (V2G) alternatives. Results provide policymakers and stakeholders with a comprehensive panoramic of the potential to create this new technology in colleges with a national scope. Granular insight into selecting the best technology, the investment level, and the timeframe for each particular campus is generated in this research.