Operator-User Cost Trade-offs in Sweden's Future EV Charging System

Paper in proceeding, 2026

Electric vehicles (EVs) can decarbonize road transport, but charging system design choices can create durable inequality in access and costs. Using high-resolution synthetic daily travel activity, national charging needs in Sweden are assessed under 100% EV adoption with an optimisation that jointly selects public charger deployment and user charging schedules while tracking five-minute charger occupancy. Comparing a useroptimal system (minimum user charging costs) and a charging-point-operator (CPO)-optimal system (minimum infrastructure lifetime costs) design shows that both designs rely primarily on 11 kW public chargers (>80%) and require no public deployment in most zones (>80%). Higher utilisation in the CPO-optimal design lowers mean levelised charging costs (0.21-0.34 EUR/kWh across 11-150 kW), while the user-optimal design raises mean costs for 22 kW and 150 kW by 23% and 32%. Users without access to private charging face persistently higher charging costs, with a median unit cost of 0.33 versus 0.10 EUR/kWh and an annual cost of 1356 EUR compared with 631 EUR.