Abstract:The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) cannot be separated from the deployment of public charging infrastructure. In particular, DC fast charging (DCFC) near residential locations is expected to provide regular charging for EV owners who miss charging or cannot charge at home and facilitate long-distance driving, especially in rural areas. This study estimates spatial accessibility to estimate the spatial equity of DC fast charging between urban and rural areas in California. First, we employ a two-step floating catchement area (2SFCA) method to measure the spatial accessibility of DC fast charging in California. We then use the Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients based on measured accessibility to compare spatial equity (or inequality) between urban and rural areas. Some key findings are as follows. First, many rural areas in California cannot access DC fast charging within 15 minutes by driving. Second, while urban centers do not have great accessibility to DC fast charging, we observe great accessibility near national highway lines crossing suburban areas. Third, increases in homebased charging capabilities lead to improved spatial accessibility. Lastly, we observe high inequality of spatial accessibility of DC fast charging in both urban and rural areas based on the Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients. In particular, rural areas are shown significant uneven spatial distribution of DC fast charging.