Introduction
Transportation is a vital component of any community. Specifically, in a flourishing area such as Madison Borough with not only residential areas, but also many schools and other businesses, transportation of various forms is necessary. Therefore, whether you are driving a gasoline powered vehicle, or a newer and upcoming electric powered vehicle, fueling becomes a priority. Using this map, we are able to explore all the gasoline service stations as well as electric vehicle charging stations that are located within Madison Borough.
Data
In the map, EV charging stations are marked as red dots, whereas gas service stations are marked as blue squares with a gas logo. As the map shows, there turns out to be a total of 6 gas stations and 10 level 2 EV charging stations located in Madison Borough. This could come across as surprising to some people at first, as they might assume that a higher percentage of cars on the road are fueled by gasoline.
Results
While we observe that most cars on the road in Madison are still gasoline operated, New Jersey actually has an aggressive goal of having 330,000 electric vehicles by 2025. Therefore, based on this map of fueling stations, it would appear that Madison Borough is well-prepared for the future of transportation, as they already have 10 level 2 EV charging stations compared to their 6 gas stations.
Conclusion
As the awareness of climate change and sustainability has become more prominent than ever before, we are starting to see alternative methods of transportation become more popular. This will limit the air pollution produced through the transportation sector. It is particularly interesting to see how the emergence of electric powered vehicles has intensified, and therefore we can see a direct correlation with the increase in available charging stations. By looking at the small sample size of Madison Borough, we can see how electric vehicle charging stations are becoming more and more popular, and may even out number traditional gas service stations in particular areas.
About the Data
Information regarding the location of the electric vehicle charging stations was collected from the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The NREL collects and publishes information on alternative vehicle fueling stations on a daily basis. Note, only stations with level 2 electric vehicle chargers that are currently operating and open to the public are listed. In addition to this, information regarding the location of gasoline service stations was collected from the NJDEP and the New Jersey Environmental Management System (NJEMS). The NJDEP uses the NJEMS on a weekly update basis to supply coordinates listed in this layer.
The map above shows the amount of Gas Stations and Electric Vehicle level 2 charging stations in Madison Borough. By clicking the button in the top right corner, legend items will be viewable for this map.
