2,790 research outputs found

    Does experience matter? Assessing user motivations to accept a vehicle-to-grid charging tariff

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    Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) could be a cornerstone to ensure the efficient integration of a large number of electric vehicles (EVs) and the resulting electricity demand into the energy system. However, successful V2G adoption requires direct interaction with the EV user. To explore user preferences and requirements in the context of a V2G charging tariff, we conducted a survey (N = 1196). We assess users’ minimum range requirements and willingness to pay for a V2G charging tariff and relate them to users’ experience with EVs. By building a mediation model, we evaluate the importance of three charging strategies to guide users’ minimum range requirements and expected monetary savings. The results reveal EV owners’ preference for a climate-neutral charging strategy, leading to a higher readiness to accept lower minimum ranges and lower monetary savings. These results are especially important to aggregators, aiming to design profitable business models, while accounting for user requirements and preferences

    A Techno-Economic Investigation of Advanced Vehicle Technologies and Their Impacts on Fuel Economy, Emissions, and the Future Fleet

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    A more sustainable transportation energy future for society is the principal motivation of this dissertation. The central purpose of this work is to investigate vehicle technologies that contribute to fuel and emissions reductions while preserving consumer choice, and to evaluate their technological performance and economic practicability as essential aspects of meeting aspirational targets and regulatory requirements associated with the future vehicle fleet

    Why did Better Place fail?: Range anxiety, interpretive flexibility, and electric vehicle promotion in Denmark and Israel

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    With almost 1billioninfunding,BetterPlacewaspoisedtobecomeoneofthemostinnovativecompaniesintheelectricmobilitymarket.ThesystemBetterPlaceproposedhadtwonovelprongs;first,toreducethecostofbatteries,andsecond,toreducerangeanxiety,publicinfrastructureconcerns,andlongchargingtimes.Yet,despitethisseeminglystrongcombination,BetterPlacefailedtomakeanyprogressinDenmarkandIsrael,thefirsttwomarketsitoperatedin,andsubsequentlydeclaredbankruptcy,sellingoffitscollectiveassetsforlessthan1 billion in funding, Better Place was poised to become one of the most innovative companies in the electric mobility market. The system Better Place proposed had two novel prongs; first, to reduce the cost of batteries, and second, to reduce range anxiety, public infrastructure concerns, and long charging times. Yet, despite this seemingly strong combination, Better Place failed to make any progress in Denmark and Israel, the first two markets it operated in, and subsequently declared bankruptcy, selling off its collective assets for less than 500,000. Drawing from science and technology studies and the notion of “interpretive flexibility,” this paper posits several reasons to explain the failure of Better Place, including that Denmark is not as “green” as it seems nor is the Israeli market as attractive as believed, and that Better Place's solution to charging time and range anxiety resolved a psychological, not a functional, barrier of the general public to adopt electric vehicles. Before investigating these two reasons, the paper presents a short history of Better Place and explores the contours of its operations in Denmark and Israel. It then discusses why Better Place “failed” across both countries before concluding with implications for energy planning, policy, and analysis

    Barriers to Electric Vehicle Adoption in Finland and How to Overcome them: An Analysis of Consumer Opinions and Perceptions

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    Objectives The main objective of this study was to explore consumer opinions and perceptions regarding EVs and EV incentive policies in Finland in order to better understand how adoption rates could be increased. Summary A qualitative online survey was conducted within Finland with 71 respondents, most of which were Finnish students. Respondents were mainly asked to indicate their level of knowledge and experience with EVs, to rate different benefits and drawbacks of EVs, and to rate the appeal of different policy incentives for increasing EV adoption rates in Finland. Conclusions The results indicated that while aspects like high purchase price and range constraints are considered severe limitations for EV adoption, the most severe limitation currently is a lack of charging infrastructure in Finland. The results also highlight the need for consumer education regarding EVs in Finland as both OEMs and the government stand to benefit by better informing consumers

    Modeling the uptake of plug-in vehicles in a heterogeneous car market using a consumer segmentation approach

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    There is broad agreement on the need for substantial use of low carbon vectors in the long term in the transport sector. Electrification, via mass market adoption of plug-in vehicles (i.e. battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles), has emerged as a front runner for road transport across the globe, but there are concerns that the pace and extent implied by many modelling studies is problematic and that assessment of (a) the heterogeneity in the market, (b) other low carbon vectors (e.g. conventional hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell) and (c) life cycle energy and environmental impacts have been relatively neglected. This paper aims to fill these gaps by examining the timing, scale and impacts of the uptake of plug-in vehicles in the heterogeneous UK car market from a consumer perspective. To achieve this aim it (a) brings together a bespoke disaggregated model of the transport-energy-environment system (the UK Transport Carbon Model) with previous work by the authors on heterogeneity in the demand for and supply of plug-in vehicles and (b) applies the improved model to develop future low carbon scenarios that assess the potential impact of different investment pathways and policy approaches to the electrification of cars with the view to meeting the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets to 2050. The results show the importance of accounting for the heterogeneity in and dynamic nature of the car market in terms of new technology adoption by private consumers, so called ‘user choosers’ and fleet managers, as well as accounting for potential effects on wider life cycle emissions resulting from different uptake pathways. It allows an assessment of the effectiveness of different policy instruments, market conditions (vehicle supply, private vs fleet market, vehicle segments) and social factors (consumer awareness, range “anxiety”, perceived charging requirements) on different consumer segments, thus providing more policy-focused conclusions on the likely pathways to high penetration of plug-in vehicles that may be required to meet future carbon and air quality targets

    Maximizing Smart Charging of EVs: The Impact of Privacy and Money on Data Sharing

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    Smart charging has the potential to shift peak load to times of lower demand, which better exploits renewable generation and enhances grid resilience. For increased effectiveness, smart charging requires access to data that consumers might be hesitant to share. To explore which data consumers would share and which factors influence this decision, we adopt the Barth and de Jong’s risk-benefit calculation framework to smart charging and conduct an online-survey (n = 479). We find that most respondents who would share charging details with a smart charging application, are ambivalent about location data and would never share calendar details. When presented with concrete monetary rewards, participants lose their initial reservations and would share all data for an amount dependent on the data’s sensitivity. Thus, our study contributes to research on the privacy paradox by highlighting the importance of calculations between perceived risks and benefits for the decision to share data
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