This research tests an implicit assumption in policies promoting public investment in plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure: people who are not already interested in PEVs will see public PEV charging. Data from a survey representing all car-owning households in California are combined with data on public PEV charging and PEV registrations to estimate a structural equation model of the extent to which participants have considered acquiring a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and whether participants report seeing PEV charging. The model controls for socio-economic and demographic measures and participants’ awareness, knowledge, and assessments of PEVs. The model also controls for the known spatial correlation between PEV registrations and public charging locations. An extension is made, via logistic ordinal regression modeling, to further assess whether charger density in the vicinity of a workplace affects the results. All results contradict the assumption that people will see charging infrastructure and that more charging—rather than more people seeing charging—means more people will consider purchasing a BEV or PHEV. Rather, prior interest, i.e., awareness, knowledge, and positive assessments of PEVs, allow people to see PEV charging. In short, interest in PEVs is a prerequisite to people seeing PEV charging.