Volta has announced a significant update to its advanced infrastructure planning solution, PredictEV®. The new feature will provide state and local governments with data-driven insight into the travel patterns of residents in disadvantaged communities, allowing them to identify EV charger locations that will maximize convenience and utilization with more precision. This update ensures that infrastructure funds are efficiently and effectively spent as governments develop competitive applications for the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, upholding the federal government’s Justice40 goal.
PredictEV is a powerful planning tool that leverages disparate data sources, including local mobility, demographic, commercial, and site-specific data, to help answer questions about expected EV adoption, optimal charger locations, and the right mix of charging infrastructure. With this update, PredictEV now incorporates census tract data to identify disadvantaged communities and analyze the most popular vehicular travel routes of residents from these areas.
See also: Volta to Use PredictEV for EV Charging Needs Assessment in Irving, Texas
According to Brandt Hastings, Chief Commercial Officer at Volta, “Combining these two datasets supports effective public EV charging infrastructure planning for disadvantaged communities, which is critical for accelerating EV adoption within these regions due to the limited availability of at-home charging. Often, the best locations to place chargers will be in highly-trafficked areas within DACs. Other times, PredictEV’s travel data may reveal that constructing an EV charger at a shopping center in an adjacent community will result in significantly higher utilization due to the popularity and convenience of that location.”
PredictEV has already been used by Alabama’s Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) to develop its Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan, and its insights informed Volta’s collaboration with the City of Irving and the State of Michigan and DTE Energy. Electric utilities, including Southern Company, Southern California Edison, and Tucson Electric Power, also use the planning tool to forecast EV charging demands on the grid.
Volta’s commitment to supporting Charging For All is reflected in its work with governments as they design future-forward eMobility infrastructure plans that maximize taxpayers’ dollars and provide vital infrastructure to disadvantaged communities. With this new update to PredictEV, Volta is helping to ensure that every community has access to reliable and convenient EV charging infrastructure.