Consumer preferences for battery electric vehicles: A choice experimental survey in China

To accelerate the diffusion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), consumer preferences for different products and policy attributes must be determined. Although previous studies have investigated consumer preferences for some product attributes, including purchase price, operation cost, driving range, and charging time, limited studies have discussed the broader aspects of product attributes, such as battery warranty and depreciation rate. Moreover, market-oriented incentives, including the personal carbon trading (PCT) scheme and the tradable driving credits (TDC) scheme, can theoretically be effective alternatives to expensive purchase subsidies. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence that confirms the influence of these two schemes on BEV adoption. To fill these gaps, we conducted a stated preference choice experimental survey in China and investigated the effect of product attributes, existing policy incentives, and two emerging market-oriented incentives on BEV adoption. Our results reveal that along with the main product attributes, battery warranty has a significant positive effect on inducing mainstream consumers to adopt BEVs while no preference difference occurs among existing policy incentives after purchase subsidies are abolished. For young consumers, almost all incentives that reduce the operation cost (e.g., PCT) or increase convenience (e.g., TDC) can increase their adoption of BEVs. These findings can provide important implications for the government with regard to designing novel incentives and promoting BEV adoption.     

Using GPS-data to determine optimum electric vehicle ranges: A Michigan case study

Fuel-switching personal transportation from gasoline to electricity offers many advantages, including lower noise, zero local air pollution, and petroleum-independence. But alleviations of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are more nuanced, due to many factors, including the car’s battery range. We use GPS-based trip data to determine use type-specific, GHG-optimized ranges. The dataset comprises 412 cars and 384,869 individual trips in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. We use previously developed algorithms to determine driver types, such as using the car to commute or not. Calibrating an existing life cycle GHG model to a forecast, low-carbon grid for Ann Arbor, we find that the optimum range varies not only with the drive train architecture (plugin-hybrid versus battery-only) and charging technology (fast versus slow) but also with the driver type. Across the 108 scenarios we investigated, the range that yields lowest GHG varies from 65 km (55+ year old drivers, ultrafast charging, plugin-hybrid) to 158 km (16–34 year old drivers, overnight charging, battery-only). The optimum GHG reduction that electric cars offer – here conservatively measured versus gasoline-only hybrid cars – is fairly stable, between 29% (16–34 year old drivers, overnight charging, battery-only) and 46% (commuters, ultrafast charging, plugin-hybrid). The electrification of total distances is between 66% and 86%. However, if cars do not have the optimum range, these metrics drop substantially. We conclude that matching the range to drivers’ typical trip distances, charging technology, and drivetrain is a crucial pre-requisite for electric vehicles to achieve their highest potential to reduce GHG emissions in personal transportation.     

Electric vehicle charging station locations: Elastic demand,station congestion,and network equilibrium

Battery-only electric vehicles (BEVs) generally offer better air quality through lowered emissions, along with energy savings and security. The issue of long-duration battery charging makes charging-station placement and design key for BEV adoption rates. This work uses genetic algorithms to identify profit-maximizing station placement and design details, with applications that reflect the costs of installing, operating, and maintaining service equipment, including land acquisition. Fast electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) are placed across a congested city's network subject to stochastic demand for charging under a user-equilibrium traffic assignment. BEV users’ station choices consider endogenously determined travel times and on-site charging queues. The model allows for congested-travel and congested-station feedback into travelers’ route choices under elastic demand and BEV owners’ station choices, as well as charging price elasticity for BEV charging users.Boston-network results suggest that EVCSs should locate mostly along major highways, which may be a common finding for other metro settings. If 10% of current EV owners seek to charge en route, a user fee of $6 for a 30-min charging session is not enough for station profitability under a 5-year time horizon in this region. However, $10 per BEV charging delivers a 5-year profit of $0.82 million, and 11 cords across 3 stations are enough to accommodate a near-term charging demand in this Boston-area application. Shorter charging sessions, higher fees, and/or allowing for more cords per site also increase profits generally, everything else constant. Power-grid and station upgrades should keep pace with demand, to maximize profits over time, and avoid on-site congestion.     

PHEV发动机驱动工况效率耦合分析与优化控制

单轴并联式混合动力系统（Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle,PHEV）包括电池、驱动电机、发动机、自动变速器等多个关键部件。各部件效率特性存在相互耦合的关系,要实现系统整体效率最优,需要辨明影响系统效率的控制参数,并对系统整体效率最优的控制参数进行优化。以装备无级变速器（Continuously Variable Transmission,CVT）的PHEV为研究对象,首先对系统各关键部件的效率特性进行分析,建立各关键部件效率模型,明确各部件效率与控制参数、状态参数之间的关系。在此基础上,对发动机单独驱动模式下动力传递路径中不同部件的效率耦合关系进行分析,推导出系统燃油消耗量与动力系统各状态参数、控制参数之间的函数关系。根据分析结果,选取车辆需求功率及车速为状态参数,变速器速比及发动机转矩为控制参数,以系统燃油消耗量最小为目标建立优化目标函数和约束条件,对系统优化问题进行定义。根据优化问题的特点,设计基于模拟退火的优化算法对优化问题进行求解,获取系统燃油消耗率最小时变速器目标速比和发动机目标转矩随状态参数的变化关系。建立系统仿真模型对所述优化算法进行仿真分析,并搭建混合动力试验台对优化结果进行试验验证。结果表明：无级变速器效率对系统整体效率影响较大,采用优化控制规律使发动机效率有所降低,但无级变速器效率升高更大,系统整体效率升高;在功率需求一定的循环工况下,优化控制算法比传统上仅以发动机效率最高为目标的控制算法节油1%~2%。     

The Alternative Motor Fuels Act, alternative-fuel vehicles, and greenhouse gas emissions

The corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard is the major policy tool to improve the fleet average miles per gallon of automobile manufacturers in the US. The Alternative Motor Fuels Act (AMFA) provides special treatment in calculating the fuel economy of alternative-fuel vehicles to give manufacturers CAFE incentives to produce more alternative-fuel vehicles. AMFA has as its goals an increase in the production of alternative-fuel vehicles and a decrease in gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper examines theoretically the effects of the program set up under AMFA. It finds that, under some conditions, this program may actually increase the production of fuel-inefficient gasoline vehicles, gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.     

管道内防腐层补口技术研究进展

管道内衬或内防腐涂层现场施焊时,焊缝两侧的防腐层会由于高温作用而破坏,使环焊缝处不能得到有效的保护,内补口技术也成为影响管道质量的主要瓶颈。文中介绍了国内外主要的内补口技术,如内补口机法、内衬保护套（管）焊接法、不锈钢接头法、机械连接法等,并指出各方法的特点。文中还就内补口技术的质量控制和研究方向等提出了建议。     

考虑螺旋桨体积力的水下机器人水动力特性仿真

为在初步设计时预测ROV的水动力性能,使用CFD技术进行分析,以ROV模型为例,最大程度地保留ROV内部的构件,使模型更加接近真实状况。分别计算ROV在不同工况下的阻力、不同漂角下的横向力和转艏力矩以及添加体积力模型之后的螺旋桨流场状况,很好地模拟出ROV周围的流场,并与已有的试验数据进行对比。结果验证了CFD水动力仿真的可行性和准确性,并还可预测ROV在螺旋桨作用下的进速等,对ROV设计具有实际的参考价值和指导意义。     

Shared autonomous electric vehicle (SAEV) operations across the Austin,Texas network with charging infrastructure decisions

Shared autonomous vehicles, or SAVs, have attracted significant public and private interest because of their opportunity to simplify vehicle access, avoid parking costs, reduce fleet size, and, ultimately, save many travelers time and money. One way to extend these benefits is through an electric vehicle (EV) fleet. EVs are especially suited for this heavy usage due to their lower energy costs and reduced maintenance needs. As the price of EV batteries continues to fall, charging facilities become more convenient, and renewable energy sources grow in market share, EVs will become more economically and environmentally competitive with conventionally fueled vehicles. EVs are limited by their distance range and charge times, so these are important factors when considering operations of a large, electric SAV (SAEV) fleet.This study simulated performance characteristics of SAEV fleets serving travelers across the Austin, Texas 6-county region. The simulation works in sync with the agent-based simulator MATSim, with SAEV modeling as a new mode. Charging stations are placed, as needed, to serve all trips requested (under 75 km or 47 miles in length) over 30 days of initial model runs. Simulation of distinctive fleet sizes requiring different charge times and exhibiting different ranges, suggests that the number of station locations depends almost wholly on vehicle range. Reducing charge times does lower fleet response times (to trip requests), but increasing fleet size improves response times the most. Increasing range above 175 km (109 miles) does not appear to improve response times for this region and trips originating in the urban core are served the quickest. Unoccupied travel accounted for 19.6% of SAEV mileage on average, with driving to charging stations accounting for 31.5% of this empty-vehicle mileage. This study found that there appears to be a limit on how much response time can be improved through decreasing charge times or increasing vehicle range.     

A Pareto-improving hybrid rationing and pricing policy with multiclass network equilibria

This paper extends the work on Pareto-improving hybrid rationing and pricing policy for general road networks by considering heterogeneous users with different values of time. Mathematical programming models are proposed to find a multiclass Pareto-improving pure road space rationing scheme (MPI-PR) and multiclass hybrid rationing and pricing schemes (MHPI and MHPI-S). A numerical example with a multimodal network is provided for comparing both the efficiency and equity of the three proposed policies. We discover that MHPI-S can achieve the largest reduction in total system delay, MHPI can induce the least spatial inequity and MHPI-S is a progressive policy which is appealing to policy makers. Furthermore, numerical results reveal that different classes of users react differently to the same hybrid policies and multiclass Pareto-improving hybrid schemes yield less delay reduction when compared to their single-class counterparts.     

Electric vehicles for greenhouse gas reduction in China: A cost-effectiveness analysis

There have been ongoing debates over whether battery electric vehicles contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in China’s context, and if yes, whether the greenhouse gas emissions reduction compensates the cost increment. This study informs such debate by examining the life-cycle cost and greenhouse gas emissions of conventional vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles, and comparing their cost-effectiveness for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The results indicate that under a wide range of vehicle and driving configurations (range capacity, vehicle use intensity, etc.), battery electric vehicles contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared with conventional vehicles, although their current cost-effectiveness is not comparable with hybrid electric vehicles. Driven by grid mix optimization, power generation efficiency improvement, and battery cost reduction, the cost-effectiveness of battery electric vehicles is expected to improve significantly over the coming decade and surpass hybrid electric vehicles. However, considerable uncertainty exists due to the potential impacts from factors such as gasoline price. Based on the analysis, it is recommended that the deployment of battery electric vehicles should be prioritized in intensively-used fleets such as taxis to realize high cost-effectiveness. Technology improvements both in terms of power generation and vehicle electrification are essential in improving the cost-effectiveness of battery electric vehicles.