Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Charge station locator apps have opened new possibilities to study digital platform innovation in the fast growing electric vehicles market. A key concern among managers and station hosts is the ability to recover investment costs and to alleviate congestion, given the extended times that drivers may leave their cars plugged in, even after there is no active power draw. Here we present results of a workplace charging field experiment with a major U.S. automaker. We use regression discontinuity to analyze real-time transactions via a mobile app called Plugshare. Our data include 51 million charging transactions at 111 electric vehicle stations in corporate offices and manufacturing locations. We test theoretical predictions about price setting in digital platforms and provide evidence on the relative effectiveness of dynamic pricing versus normative strategies to limit over-consumption in critical infrastructure.