Exploring Urban Environment Heterogeneity: Impact of Urban Sprawl on Charging Infrastructure Demand over Time

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is hindered by the insufficient development of charging infrastructure (CI) networks, particularly in urban areas. The existing literature highlights significant advancements in highway CI modeling, yet urban-specific models remain underdeveloped, due to the complexity of diverse driver behaviors and evolving environmental factors. To address this gap, this study investigates the influence of urban sprawl on future urban CI demand. Using a vector field analysis methodology, we first define the urban environment to capture its heterogeneity. A conceptual framework is then developed to analyze how changes in urban environments affect critical factors influencing CI demand. The results demonstrate that urban sprawl significantly impacts key variables shaping CI demand, including population distribution, transportation patterns, and land use. To quantify these impacts, geospatial metrics are derived from highly cited literature and integrated into the analysis, offering a novel approach to incorporating sprawl effects into CI planning. This study concludes that urban sprawl has a profound influence on future CI demand and emphasizes the importance of monitoring geospatial metrics over time. The proposed methodology provides a theoretical framework that enables stakeholders to anticipate changes in CI demand, thereby facilitating more effective infrastructure planning to accommodate urban sprawl.