When EVs meet NIMBY: Public attitudes toward power plants, transmission lines, and battery storage in Israel

As electricity demand rises in Israel's densely populated regions, new energy infrastructure must be deployed at a pace that aligns with demand growth and system adequacy requirements. However, infrastructure deployment is highly exposed to public scrutiny, and siting delays have become a material governance challenge rather than a purely technical one. This study examines how Israeli residents perceive three types of infrastructure—gas-fired power plants, transmission lines, and neighborhood-scale battery storage—and how these perceptions influence the feasibility of siting and deploying them. Findings from a 2024 survey of 531 Sharon region residents, most of whom recently experienced power outages, show that support varies by technology and is shaped by perceived health risks, visual intrusion, property values, and trade-offs. Perceived functional benefits—especially improved EV charging access and reduced outages—were strong predictors of support, suggesting that co-benefit framing may help unlock social license for difficult siting decisions. Acceptance, however, was often conditional, with pronounced “not in my backyard” patterns, particularly for power plants and storage. Gender differences were consistent, with women expressing greater risk sensitivity and lower support across all technologies. Financial compensation demands, while widespread, were not significant predictors of support in any model. Trust in researchers and NGOs substantially exceeded trust in government, pointing to the value of credible intermediaries. Together, these findings highlight the importance of integrating social acceptance as an upstream parameter in planning, permitting, and sequencing decisions—rather than treating it as a downstream communication issue—when seeking to accelerate critical grid investments.