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

Paper i 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.