Abstract
This paper examines the role of public charging infrastructure in increasing the share of
driving on electricity that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles might exhibit, thus reducing their
gasoline consumption. Vehicle activity data obtained from a global positioning system
tracked household travel survey in Austin, Texas, is used to estimate gasoline and electricity
consumptions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Drivers’ within-day recharging behavior,
constrained by travel activities and public charger availability, is modeled. It is found
that public charging offers greater fuel savings for hybrid electric vehicles s equipped with
smaller batteries, by encouraging within-day recharge, and providing an extensive public
charging service is expected to reduce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles gasoline consumption
by more than 30% and energy cost by 10%, compared to the scenario of home charging
only.