Exploring the spatial diffusion of electric vehicles in Scotland

The widespread diffusion of Electric Vehicles (EVs) represents a cornerstone of the Scottish Government's strategy to transition to a sustainable transport system. This diffusion is often discussedin temporal terms which relateto the time required to attain specified sales targets. A somewhat overlooked aspect of this diffusion concerns its spatial distribution. With EVs having been available to purchase in the mainstream market for the past four years, enough data now exists to begin to examine the spatial characteristics of EV adoption. This paper presents an initial analysis of the spatial diffusion of EVs throughout Scotland at the Unitary Authority (UA) level in order to approach two research objectives. Firstly, the analysis considers the relative performance of different UAs in reference to EV adoption to determine if any uptake hotspots are present. Additionally, the analysisinvestigates if the level of EV adoption across UAs is related to other area characteristics of the UAs inclusive of: the socio-demographic and built environment profiles of the UAs; the fleet characteristics of the UAs; the characteristics of the transport system present in the UAs; the environmental attitudes and social behaviours of the UA populace. Findings of the analysis indicate that the level of EV adoption across UAs is significantly positively related to the proportion of a UAs populace that: hold a university degree; consider climate change tobe an immediate and urgent problem; commute to work by foot; and the presence of rapid charge points in a UA. The research presented in this paper is likely to be of interest to national, regional and local transport planners by expanding the knowledge base concerning how new innovations spread through the transport system