CALIFORNIA CLEAN
MOBILITY PARTNERSHIP (CCMP): Behavior and User Analysis of Plug-in Hybrid
Vehicles and Fuel Cell Vehicles.
Project
Description:
In response to rising concerns about global fuel supplies and climate change, new vehicle technologies have received increasing focus as environmental solutions. California continues to be an international leader in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-3-05 to reduce GHG emissions and in 2006 the California state Legislature enacted AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, outlining comprehensive action to reduce GHG emissions. Together these two actions require California to reduce GHG emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and provide the development of policy mechanisms to accomplish this goal.
To help achieve these objectives, researchers at the Institute of Transportation Studies of the University of California, Berkeley are conducting real-world testing of purpose built plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and fuel cell vehicles (FCV). Using a grant under Assembly Bill 1811’s “Incentive Program for Alternative Fuels,” UC Berkeley and the University of California, Irvine are working with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. (TMS), Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). UC Berkeley researchers are studying user behavioral response to the PHEVs and FCVs including recharging/refueling patterns. Research will include technical energy use, environmental and economic assessments and utility grid interface for the PHEVs. UC Irvine is leading air quality modeling and PHEV testing and certification research. TMS and TEMA are providing PHEVs, FCVs, and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles (HEVs) as well as support engineering services. The project partners seek to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of these competing innovative vehicle technologies.
The behavior studies, conducted by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) and Innovative Mobility Research (IMR) at UC Berkeley include vehicle placements with households in Northern and Southern California. PHEVs, FCVs and HEVs will be placed in households to evaluate user response, refueling/recharging patterns, and driver perceptions of the strengths and challeges of the technologies. Behavior and user response will be collected via on-board data collection systems, longitudinal surveys, focus groups and exit interviews.
LEARN MORE:
The University of California, Irvine Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP)
Toyota North American Pressroom: Toyota Delivers Plug-in Prius to UC Irvine and UC Berkeley As Part of Clean Mobility Partnership
http://pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?id=TYT2007110961930
California Environmental Protection Agency, Air Resources Board, Climate Change