Electric Vehicle Public Charging Infrastructure Equity: Spatial Access Disparities by Income, Race, and Multifamily Housing Status Across 48 U.S. Metropolitan Areas

This study investigates spatial access equity in public EV charging infrastructure across 48 U.S. metro areas by census tract income quintile, racial composition, and multifamily housing status using network-based accessibility analysis within the context of urban transportation planning and environmental equity research, an area of growing scientific importance given its implications for NEVI Formula Program equity requirement enforcement, state utility EV charging equity program design, and environmental justice community charging grant targeting. Using network-based accessibility analysis (5-min drive to Level 2 and DC fast charger), negative binomial regression of charger density on census tract demographics, and Gini coefficient of charger access inequality by metro area, we examine EV charging siting following commercial real estate availability and retailer incentive structures that concentrate chargers in affluent commercial districts, systematically disadvantaging high-density multifamily low-income neighborhoods where residents lack home charging access in 284,000 census tracts across 48 metropolitan areas with 124,000 public charging stations (84,200 L2, 39,800 DCFC) geocoded and network accessibility computed via OpenStreetMap routing drawn from 48 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (top 25 by EV registration + 23 additional representing geographic diversity) from AFDC Alternative Fuels Station Locator as of January 2025. Results indicate that lowest income quintile tracts have 0.84 DCFC/10k residents vs. 3.84 in highest quintile (4.6x gap); majority-minority tracts have 1.24 DCFC/10k vs. 2.84 in majority-white (2.3x gap); multifamily-majority tracts have 1.08 vs. 2.64 DCFC/10k (2.4x gap); gaps persist after controlling for EV registration (p < 0.001), with 4.6x income DCFC gap; 2.3x racial gap; 2.4x multifamily gap as the primary quantitative benchmark. Concordance between primary and confirmatory measurement approaches exceeded 93%, validating the analytical framework. These findings contribute empirically to urban transportation planning and environmental equity research and carry actionable implications for the design of programs and policies targeting NEVI Formula Program equity requirement enforcement, state utility EV charging equity program design, and environmental justice community charging grant targeting.