Use of alternative fuel vehicles by early adopters

What is it about?

Greater adoption and use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) can be environmentally beneficial and reduce dependence on gasoline. The study answers important research questions about AFV use patterns (e.g., trip frequency and daily vehicle miles traveled) and driving practices (e.g., volatility in driving). The results show that AFVs cannot be viewed as monolithic; there are important differences in how different AFVs (plug-in hybrids, battery electric, or compressed natural gas vehicles) are used by early adopters in California. The implications of the results are discussed.

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Why is it important?

This study contributes by exploring the use of alternative fuel vehicles by early adopters and comparing their use patterns with conventional vehicles. Firstly, the study uses a large-scale integrated behavioral and sensor database to explore use patterns, especially the short-term decisions made by drivers. Such databases have only recently become available, and also require substantial computing capability. Secondly, the challenge of simultaneously extracting valuable information from complex hierarchically structured data is achieved by the application of hierarchical modeling. Specifically, such modeling better controls for various associated factors, while exploring differences in driver behavior at three levels, i.e., trip level, driver/vehicle level and regional level.

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