Operating Charging Infrastructure in China to Achieve Sustainable Transportation: The Choice between Company-Owned and Franchised Structures

The rapid development of electric vehicles (EVs) is conducive to clean transportation, which is an important aspect of sustainable infrastructure. However, the introduction of EVs is constrained by the lagging development of EV chargers. To optimally promote the development of charging stations, we analyzed the differences in the optimal quality and quantity of EV chargers between company-owned and franchised enterprises by constructing a theoretical model, and the changes in the quality and quantity of EV chargers in different market environments are discussed. We found that the total number of franchised charging stations was larger in general, but that the quality of the franchised charging stations was worse compared with the company-owned stations. The supervision cost, operation cost, and the investment return affect the quality and quantity of EV chargers. Although franchised structures are more conducive in the initial stage to increasing the number of charging stations to meet the needs of EVs, company-owned structures perform better and will be needed to improve the quality of the EV chargers as the market becomes more saturated, necessitating a higher quality of EV chargers