Environmental and Safety Attributes of Electric Vehicle Ownership and Commuting Behavior: Public Policy and Equity Considerations
Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to reduce climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. Maryland promotes EVs by subsidizing purchases of them, invests in charging facilities at rail transit stations, and assists in funding such facilities for local jurisdictions. This research would discern whether charging facilities at rail transit stations enhance market penetration of EVs and affect commuting behavior and mode choice. This research posits that there is a nested automobile choice between using plug-in hybrid electric (HE) or battery electric (BE) cars and using conventional cars and that owners of EVs have a lower propensity to choose rail transit for commute trips than owners of conventional cars. Research would also discern attitudes toward safety and demand for in-vehicle safety technologies. This research will survey current registered HE and BE owners in Maryland regarding attitudes toward environmental and safety considerations, demand for safety technologies, commuting behavior and use of rail transit before and after purchase. The survey will also query a random sample of non-EV owners about their attitudes, demand for safety technologies, commuting behavior, and propensity to buy EVs. According to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), as of November 1, 2013 there were 2,793 EVs registered (C. Burke, MVA, personal communication, Feb. 6, 2014). MVA will identify EV owners by county and develop a random, geographically stratified sample of a similar number of non-EV owners. MVA will then notify the owners and non-owners by letter of the survey objectives and a web link that would take owners to the on-line survey. Morgan State University (MSU) will reach a privacy agreement between the university and MVA. All information regarding participation in this survey will be confidential. Mode choice behavior will be incorporated into state-wide traffic models and charging infrastructure plans. The social equity issues resulting from public charging facility investment would be addressed through policy recommendations for EV promotion by income group. The survey results and statistical analyses of data will lead to policy recommendations for EV promotion, funding and placement of public charging facilities, and traffic safety considerations. The survey analyses could be incorporated into state and local transportation planning processes and calibrations for travel demand modeling.
- Record URL:
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Completed
- Funding: $165000.00
-
Contract Numbers:
DTRT13-G-UTC33
-
Sponsor Organizations:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Blacksburg, VA United States 24061Marshall University, Huntington
College of Information Technology and Engineering
One John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV United States 25755National Center for Transportation Management, Research and Development
Morgan State University
1700 East Cold Spring Lane, Montebello D-206
Baltimore, MD United States 21251Research and Innovative Technology Administration
University Transportation Centers Program
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Project Managers:
Parkany, Emily
-
Performing Organizations:
Marshall University, Huntington
College of Information Technology and Engineering
One John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV United States 25755Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Blacksburg, VA United States 24061National Center for Transportation Management, Research and Development
Morgan State University
1700 East Cold Spring Lane, Montebello D-206
Baltimore, MD United States 21251 -
Principal Investigators:
Risch, Christine
Shin, Hyeon-Shic
Farkas, Z. Andrew
- Start Date: 20141001
- Expected Completion Date: 0
- Actual Completion Date: 20150930
- Source Data: RiP Project 37260
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Climate change; Commuters; Electric vehicle charging; Electric vehicles; Environmental impacts; Equity; Hybrid vehicles; Mode choice; Rail transit stations; Travel demand
- Geographic Terms: Maryland
- Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society; Vehicles and Equipment; I15: Environment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01566133
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability Center
- Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC33
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Jun 11 2015 1:01AM