Do I need to charge right now? Tailored choice architecture design can increase preferences for electric vehicle smart charging

The increasing diffusion of electric vehicles (EVs) can challenge the stability of distribution grids. Smart charging systems can reduce the stress of EV charging on the grid, but the potential of the technology depends on EV drivers' participation in smart charging schemes. To investigate this potential, we conducted an online randomised-controlled experiment with two waves (baseline and experimental phase, N = 222), in which we examined drivers' preferences for smart charging and tested a behavioral intervention to increase the number of smart charging choices. We translated state-of-charge (SoC) information from percentage of battery level into miles corresponding to the battery level and tailored information, i.e., the number of driving days covered by the actual SoC based on participants’ personal driving profiles. Participants preferred to use smart charging systems to decrease costs and to increase renewable energy use. However, they tended to overestimate the importance of the battery SoC when setting charging preferences. This overestimation was especially evident for participants who only drive short distances and may be lead to inefficient use of smart charging technology. Translating battery SoC into tailored information corrected for this bias and increased the number of smart charging choices. Our findings illustrate how behavioral interventions can be leveraged to attain energy transition goals.