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Title: THE COST OF ACCESS: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN ON-STREET ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING IN RIGA AND LONDON
THE COST OF ACCESS: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN ON-STREET ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING IN RIGA AND LONDON

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Aivars Rubenis; Aigars Laizans; Girts Aleksans
10.5593/sgem2025v/4.2/s20.90
10.5593/sgem2025v/4.2
1314-2704
978-619-7603-93-4
English
25
4.2
• Prof. Dr. hab. oec. Baiba Rivza, LATVIA
• Prof. DSc. Ildiko Tulbure, GERMANY
• Prof. DSc. Oleksandr Trofymchuk, UKRAINE
Economics of Sustainability and Environmental Policies
Access to affordable and reliable charging is emerging as a central equity challenge in the transition to electric mobility. While most EV charging in Europe occurs at home, this option is unavailable to many urban residents without private parking, who must depend on more expensive public infrastructure. This study compares everyday EV charging costs in London (United Kingdom) and Riga (Latvia), examining four representative EV user clusters with distinct daily mobility patterns. Using harmonised energy-demand profiles and real-world tariff structures, we quantify daily and annual charging costs across home, on-street AC, and public DC charging modes.
The results show a consistent and substantial cost penalty for users lacking home charging. In London, on-street AC charging costs are typically 1.3–2.1 times higher than standard home tariffs and up to six times higher than EV-specific time-of-use tariffs. In Riga, public DC charging is 1.4–2.0 times more expensive than fixed-rate home electricity and almost twice as expensive as dynamic Nord Pool-indexed tariffs. These patterns hold across all behavioural clusters, demonstrating that the disadvantage is structural rather than user-specific. Because access to private charging strongly correlates with income and housing type, the resulting cost disparities risk reinforcing existing socio-economic inequalities. Ensuring a fair transition to electric mobility, therefore, requires public-charging models that reduce, rather than amplify, the financial burden on households without off-street parking.
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This paper has been published within the research project “Development of a prototype of an environmentally friendly electric car charging ecosystem by integrating renewable energy sources and balancing the power grid”, a grant program financed by the European Recovery Fund and managed by Latvian Central Finance and Contracting Agency. Project number: 2.2.1.3.i.0/1/24/A/CFLA/004
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https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2025v/4.2/s20.90
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THE COST OF ACCESS: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN ON-STREET ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING IN RIGA AND LONDON
Proceedings of 25th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2025
25th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2025, 3 - 06 December, 2025
Proceedings Paper
STEF92 Technology
International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference-SGEM
SWS Scholarly Society; Acad Sci Czech Republ; Latvian Acad Sci; Polish Acad Sci; Russian Acad Sci; Serbian Acad Sci and Arts; Natl Acad Sci Ukraine; Natl Acad Sci Armenia; Sci Council Japan; European Acad Sci, Arts and Letters; Acad Fine Arts Zagreb Croatia; Croatian Acad Sci and Arts; Acad Sci Moldova; Montenegrin Acad Sci and Arts; Georgian Acad Sci; Acad Fine Arts and Design Bratislava; Russian Acad Arts; Turkish Acad Sci.
815-830
3 - 06 December, 2025
website
10712
Electric mobility, On-street EV charging, Urban transport policy, Energy justice, Infrastructure accessibility, Charging affordability, Sustainable urban transport

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