Research · Resident Economics
What charging access actually costs a resident
This analysis compares three ways an Alexandria resident without off-street parking might charge an EV: home charging through a permitted sidewalk crossing, routine DC fast charging, and publicly accessible curbside Level 2 charging. The central result: the cost difference is driven less by electricity than by time.
Base-case results
| Scenario | Electricity/yr | Capital/yr | Insurance/yr | Time cost/yr | Total/yr | 5-year | Cost/mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home charger + ramp | $468 | $360 | $300 | $0 | $1,128 | $5,640 | $0.09 |
| Supercharger / DC fast | $1,440 | $0 | $0 | $5,557 | $6,997 | $34,985 | $0.58 |
| Public curbside Level 2 | $1,080 | $0 | $0 | $15,298 | $16,378 | $81,890 | $1.36 |
Time is valued at $59.54/hr — Alexandria's median household income ($123,840, Census SAIPE 2024) divided by 2,080 work hours. Home capital = ($1,500 installed charger + $300 cable ramp) ÷ 5 years. DC fast is priced at $0.40/kWh (Alexandria-area Tesla sites currently list ~$0.39–$0.45/kWh); public L2 at $0.30/kWh, a deliberately optimistic lower bound (see below).
Why $0.30/kWh is a conservative public L2 assumption
The public-L2 price is intentionally favorable to the public-charging alternative. A commercial operator must recover not just electricity but installation, right-of-way work, maintenance, networking, insurance, administration, payment processing, and a return on capital. The companion break-even analysis models a small 7.6 kW curbside port served directly by Dominion Energy Virginia: the operator's electricity alone costs about 16¢ per delivered kWh at 20% utilization — roughly $2,200 per charger per year — before any of those other costs.
| Port utilization | Best-case $3,000 install | Low-cost $7,500 install |
|---|---|---|
| 15% | $0.39/kWh | $0.52/kWh |
| 20% | $0.33/kWh | $0.43/kWh |
| 25% | $0.30/kWh | $0.38/kWh |
| 30% | $0.28/kWh | $0.34/kWh |
7.6 kW port; 5-year life; 10% return; $1,250/yr fixed O&M; 5% revenue processing; 8% electrical losses; direct small-general-service electricity. Analytical break-even estimates, not quoted market prices — full model in Public L2 Economics.
Prices materially below $0.30/kWh are possible only with still-higher utilization, lower costs, or subsidies. This analysis therefore uses $0.30/kWh as an optimistic public-L2 price rather than a central market forecast.
Try the model yourself
Interactive annual-cost explorer
Adjust the assumptions; the three scenarios update using the paper's formulas. Defaults reproduce the base case.
Fixed assumptions (from the paper): 0.30 kWh/mile wall-to-wheels; DC fast $0.40/kWh (Alexandria-area benchmark), 45 kWh per session, 70 min per session incl. travel; public L2 $0.30/kWh (optimistic break-even floor), 28.8 kWh per 3-hr session, 10 min travel each way, failed-attempt penalty when unavailable; home capital $360/yr.
Why public Level 2 is so sensitive to time
The public-curbside scenario requires about 125 three-hour sessions per year. Its cost swings almost entirely on two questions: how much of the charging time the resident can use productively, and how often the charger is unavailable on arrival. The paper's sensitivity matrix (annual total cost):
| Productive charging time | 0% unavail. | 10% unavail. | 25% unavail. | 40% unavail. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | $25,888 | $26,439 | $27,542 | $29,195 |
| 25% | $20,306 | $20,857 | $21,960 | $23,614 |
| 50% | $14,724 | $15,276 | $16,378 | $18,032 |
| 75% | $9,142 | $9,694 | $10,796 | $12,450 |
| 100% | $3,561 | $4,112 | $5,215 | $6,868 |
Even the best corner of this table — charger always available, every charging minute productive — costs more than triple the base-case home scenario.
Stress test: best public case vs. worst home case
To avoid stacking assumptions in home charging's favor, the paper runs the comparison the other way: the public case assumes the charger is never unavailable and all charging time is productive; the home case takes the upper insurance estimate.
| Case | Electricity/yr | Capital + insurance/yr | Time cost/yr | Total/yr | 5-year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best public Level 2 case | $1,080 | $0 | $2,481 | $3,561 | $17,805 |
| Worst home case ($500 insurance) | $468 | $860 | $0 | $1,328 | $6,640 |
| Difference (public over home) | $2,233 | $11,165 |
Result
Even under this stress test, the least-cost public-charging case costs about $2,233 more per year — $11,165 more over five years — than the worst-cost home-charging case. And that public case is doubly favorable: it also assumes the $0.30/kWh break-even-floor price. The home scenario is meanwhile insensitive to the insurance assumption: moving the premium from $150 to $500/yr changes the total from $978 to $1,328.
Interpretation for policy
Public charging should be treated as a complement to home charging, not a substitute. Public curbside charging is genuinely valuable — for multifamily residents, renters, visitors, and locations where private charging is infeasible. But for residents who can safely charge from private electrical service, exclusive reliance on public charging imposes large recurring time costs. A residential sidewalk-crossing permit fills a distinct gap: residents with access to private electrical service but no off-street parking. It preserves the public program's role while removing a multi-thousand-dollar annual penalty for the households the EV Readiness Strategy already identified as underserved.
Sources & assumptions
- FHWA Highway Statistics 2024, Table VM-1 (11,071 avg miles/vehicle; the model rounds to 12,000).
- Census SAIPE / FRED, Median Household Income, Alexandria City VA — $123,840 (2024); ÷ 2,080 hours = $59.54/hr.
- City of Alexandria, Electric Vehicles in Alexandria — Council approved the curbside EV charging program Feb 21, 2026.
- Charging-price assumptions are intentionally conservative toward public charging: $0.13/kWh home (Dominion residential); $0.40/kWh DC fast (Tesla lists an Alexandria site at $0.39/kWh; an area Supercharger tracker reports ~$0.41–$0.45/kWh at Hilltop Village Center); $0.30/kWh public L2, approximately the break-even retail rate for an unusually favorable $3,000 installed port at 25% utilization — see Public L2 Economics.
- Equipment assumptions: $1,500 installed charger; $300 cable ramp; session/travel/productive-time assumptions per the scenario definitions.
- Insurance assumptions are illustrative: $300/yr base, $500/yr upper, for personal liability or umbrella coverage. A commercial-policy requirement could change costs and availability — see Liability Insurance.
- Dominion Energy Virginia, Schedule GS-1 Small General Service and applicable riders (a 7.6 kW port is below the 30 kW GS-1 demand threshold; operator electricity ≈ $0.16/delivered kWh at 20% utilization).
- U.S. DOE, Alternative Fuels Data Center — Operation and Maintenance (up to ~$400/yr maintenance per charger) and Procurement and Installation (~$3,500/connector equipment, ~$2,500/connector average installation) for EV charging infrastructure.
- it's electric, For Buildings (building-hosted architecture; $0.06/kWh host revenue share); Canary Media (reported sub-$10,000 installed cost per curbside charger).