Parking futures: Preparing European cities for the advent of automated vehicles

The introduction of automated vehicles (AVs) is a virtual certainty. Much less certain is the timing of their introduction and how rapid the transition to full automation will be. Various governments are already working to facilitate this shift by, for example, amending and elaborating regulations to support the introduction of AVs, or supporting tests in different urban environments. Meanwhile, urban and regional planners and decision-makers are still grappling with the uncertainties and differing opinions about the possible impacts of AVs on land-use changes and location choices, particularly in relation to the space available for vehicles, both moving (i.e. roadspace) and stationary (i.e. parking space). This paper uses a backcasting approach to identify critical policy decisions and measures to be taken before the implementation of AVs, so as to achieve a more desirable, attractive and high-quality city. These policy measures primarily relate to the reuse and reallocation of parking and roadspace. Two strategic decisions are found to be essential to meet the major goals of sustainable and liveable cities: a clear commitment to a shared mobility and the delimitation of Core Attractive Mixed-use Spaces (CAMS). In order to deliver these desired urbanisation patterns, a set of three policy paths, involving eight policy packages, is proposed for the next 20–30 years. This article provides urban and regional decision-makers with examples of interventions that can be implemented beyond and during the implementation of AVs.     

Fuel for inequality: Distributional effects of environmental reforms on private transport

This paper provides the first empirical evidence of the distributional effects of subsidies for the purchase of alternative vehicles based on an extended version of Hausman's exact consumer surplus. In consistence with economic theory, we estimate changes in household welfare, inequality, and social welfare resulting from different reforms. First, we find that an additional tax on conventional fuel is regressive. However, returning the additional tax revenue via lump-sum transfers can alleviate this effect. Second, when the additional revenue is also used to finance subsidies for electrical and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, households that own such vehicles experience welfare gains. However, this policy also increases income inequality and decreases social welfare.     

How much are electric vehicles driven?

The prospect for electric vehicles as a climate change solution hinges on their ability to reduce gasoline consumption. But this depends on how many miles electric vehicles are driven and on how many miles would have otherwise been driven in gasoline-powered vehicles. Using newly-available U.S. nationally representative data, this paper finds that electric vehicles are driven considerably fewer miles per year on average than gasoline-powered vehicles. The difference is highly statistically significant and holds for both all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, for both single- and multiple-vehicle households, and both inside and outside California. The paper discusses potential explanations and policy implications. Overall, the evidence suggests that today’s electric vehicles imply smaller environmental benefits than previously believed.     

Parking futures: An international review of trends and speculation

The explosion of low-cost, on-demand taxi services and the anticipation of an autonomous vehicle future has made transportation the center of debate and discussion for the first time since the massive expansion of the US highway system in the 1950s. Yet the realm of parking boasts innovations and developments far beyond the high-profile issues of TNCs and AVs. Rather, innovation in parking is happening in many cases quietly on a wide variety of fronts, including technology, public policy, and design. This paper serves an overview of emerging trends in parking, primarily within the US context. We identify and outline five developments and the pertinent technologies helping to catalyze change: unbundling parking costs, reducing parking minimums, pricing and allocating curb space dynamically, designing hybrid parking structures, and preparing for the autonomous era and “mobility as a service.” This paper presents these trends with illustrative examples highlighting current practices, governance challenges, and possible future scenarios.     

New urban planning challenges under emerging autonomous mobility: evaluating backcasting scenarios and policies through an expert survey

The future implementation of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) in cities can have significant impacts, both positive and negative, on their sustainability. The objective of this research is to investigate those impacts and evaluate which policies could be most effective in achieving the desired city scenario through a backcasting planning methodology. To this end, a survey among experts was carried out in which they expressed their opinions on the potential consequences of AVs in cities and on the effectiveness of various policy packages focused on achieving a more sustainable mobility and land use planning. The results obtained show that the experts consulted were sceptical about the positive impacts of AVs, arguing that they could induce an increase in car trips and urban sprawl. The policies that could be most effective in mitigating these effects, leading to a city more aligned with the planned objectives would be: to strengthen active (foot, bicycle) and public transport modes, to restrict access of motorised modes to central urban areas and to use freed spaces for alternative modes of transport, green areas and public facilities. A cluster analysis also showed that most of the experts consulted considered that the policy packages presented could be effective or very effective in reaching the most desirable scenario. Therefore, it is important that the implementation of AVs does not subordinate to, but enhances, the sustainable mobility and land use policies already being developed in many urban areas.     

新能源汽车价格补贴政策的绩效分析和改善建议--以J新能源汽车公司为例

新能源汽车是我国汽车行业重要的发展方向,笔者通过研究我国新能源汽车的发展历程、价格补贴政策存在的问题,提出完善新能源汽车价格补贴政策的对策,以期为我国新能源产业的科学发展和我国汽车产业的转型升级提供参考。     

自驾车旅游市场开发研究

自驾车旅游是近年来迅速兴起的旅游项目，截至2003年年底。全国个人轿车保有量已达到489万辆，自驾车旅游全年所蕴藏的商机达249亿元，具有极大的开发潜力。为了摸清自驾车旅游市场的基本情况。我们选择我国西部地区个人轿车数量最多的省份——四川省为研究对象。在四川省委宣传部的大力支持下，通过问卷调查和实际走访。对自驾车旅游市场的特点、自驾车旅游对旅游企业的影响、如何开发自驾车旅游等课题进行了初步研究，本调研结果对全国其他地区开发自驾车旅游具有一定的参考价值。     

低温环境下的电动汽车性能影响研究

对比常温和低温两种外部环境条件下温度对电动汽车性能的影响,找出适合本地化的电动汽车电池温度控制方式,有利于降低生产成本。     

A MIP model for locating slow-charging stations for electric vehicles in urban areas accounting for driver tours

In this paper we propose an improved mathematical model for locating EV charging stations. We consider the successive activities of the travelers, i.e., a person with two main stops during the day should charge the vehicle in just one of the parking spots, hence avoiding double counting the demand. The model is tested for the city of Coimbra (Portugal), where there is a network of nine stations. We conclude that our solution is better than the one that was implemented in reality, moreover we are able to conclude that demand transference has a rather significant impact on the solutions.     

A heuristic approach for the green vehicle routing problem with multiple technologies and partial recharges

This paper presents several heuristics for a variation of the vehicle routing problem in which the transportation fleet is composed of electric vehicles with limited autonomy in need for recharge during their duties. In addition to the routing plan, the amount of energy recharged and the technology used must also be determined. Constructive and local search heuristics are proposed, which are exploited within a non deterministic Simulated Annealing framework. Extensive computational results on varying instances are reported, evaluating the performance of the proposed algorithms and analyzing the distinctive elements of the problem (size, geographical configuration, recharge stations, autonomy, technologies, etc.).