• Energy Research
• other engineering and technologies close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• Transport Research close

Modal shifts hold considerable potential to mitigate carbon emissions. Electric bikes (e-bikes) represent a promising energy- and carbon-efficient alternative to cars. However, as mobility behaviour is highly habitual, convincing people to switch from cars to e-bikes is challenging. One strategy to accomplish this is the disruption of existing habits - a key idea behind an annual e-bike promotion programme in Switzerland, in which car owners can try out an e-bike for free over a 2-week period in exchange for their car keys. By means of a longitudinal survey, we measured the long-term effects of this trial on mobility-related habitual associations. After one year, participants' habitual association with car use had weakened significantly. This finding was valid both for participants who bought an e-bike after the trial and those who did not. Our findings contrast the results of other studies who find that the effect of interventions to induce modal shifts wears off over time. We conclude that an e-bike trial has the potential to break mobility habits and motivate car owners to use more sustainable means of transport.

The combination of car-sharing and electric vehicles can increase the acceptance of electric vehicles and facilitate car-sharing to be a more sustainable means of transport. However, this also poses more challenges for the good planning of electric car-sharing systems. To assist car-sharing companies in improving the planning decisions, this paper developed an evaluation framework from a comprehensive view. In the first step, four evaluation criteria were identified according to the planning process: construction of stations; routine inspection; vehicle usability and relocation management; and the maintenance and replacement of stations. Then, a combinatorial method based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP), cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and Voronoi diagram (VD) is developed to determine the relative weight of the four criteria and evaluate the alternative. Finally, the evaluation framework was applied in a realistic case of EVCARD, which is the most influential electric car-sharing company in China. The performance of two different operational districts of EVCARD—Jingan and Changning—were compared. The results showed that vehicle usability and relocation management is the greatest criterion influencing the planning performance of the electric car-sharing system in China, and that routine inspection is a negligible but important factor. According to the relative scores, Jiagan District performed better than Changning district.

Natural gas is cheaper than fuel on an energy basis, making it an alternative ship fuel which leads to a reduced operating cost and clean gas environmental conditions. The current study analyses the retrofit of an ageing multi-purpose ship to use liquefied natural gas as a primary ship fuel in the context of a short-ship sea operation. The objective is to transform an existing commercial ageing ship propulsion system into a green energy propulsion one and to analyse the economic feasibility considering the high volatility and increased LNG price. Four scenarios were analysed based on the net present value representing Denying, Disinterested, Good and Acceptable financial cash outflow. It was concluded that in the present economic instability and price of LNG fuel and CO2 taxes, the ship owner needs to rely on the long-term contract of buying LNG fuel to implement measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep good benefits in shipping.

In this article, the concept of an electric vehicle (EV) as a sustainable development (SD) is discussed, and the viability of the development of electric vehicles is assessed. This study broadens the conventional definition of sustainable development by incorporating and prioritizing crucial areas of technology, environment, and policy performance. The proposed review studies have summarized the elements that can promote the integration of electric vehicle technology. The innovation of the EV has just become a modern innovation. At the same time, some obstacles, such as policy and lower adoption, are resisting its goals. To overcome this situation, electric cars have to adopt some innovative approaches that can be another path to success. The review result shows that the proposal discusses the technological advancements of electric vehicles worldwide and paves the way for further improvements. The results also mentioned technological development to reduce emissions and help us understand the impact on the environment and health benefits. However, the summary would be advantageous to both scholars and policymakers, as there is a lack of integrative reviews that assess the global demand and development of EVs simultaneously and collectively. This review would provide insight for investors and policymakers to envisage electric mobility.

In Southeast Asian cities, it is common for logistic companies to operate a heterogeneous fleet of delivery vehicles with motorcycles being the preferred vehicle to handle the final phase of delivery. In such scenarios, heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem (HFVRP) is generally applied to plan an optimal delivery. However, in many downtown cores of large and rapidly developing Southeast Asian cities, HFVRP is neither viable nor reliable because of road usage restrictions. The purpose of this article is to develop and test a different approach that accurately takes these restrictions into account and provides viable and more sustainable results. Restrictions in this paper refer to situations of urban areas in Vietnam where (i) certain vehicle types are prohibited in specified areas or where narrow alleyways limit the utilization of vehicles that exceed the road capacity and (ii) certain roads are exclusive to certain vehicle types. In networks, limited access and exclusive lanes are represented as links, or arcs, exclusive to one or another. Taking these limitations into consideration, we have developed a unique model, which we have termed Vehicle Routing Problem with Exclusive Links (VRP-EL). The model was validated and tested for its performance on scenarios with varying ratios of exclusive links. Scenarios up to 500 customers were tested on a meta-heuristic algorithm, simulated annealing. VRP-EL produces realistic outcomes. Limiting certain links to be selected according to vehicle types increases overall travel distance. However, this increase outweighs the cost of re-planning and rerouting had they not been constrained initially. The reduction in traveling distance leads to fossil fuel reduction for the overall system. The estimation of reduced carbon emissions through applying the proposed model is presented. Considering the severe traffic congestion and carbon emissions caused by motorcycles in Vietnam, the proposed model leads to a sustainable road environment.

Traffic congestion and accidents are major issues in Phnom Penh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Cambodia. An inefficient signal system and lack of traffic discipline contributed to the unfavorable traffic conditions. A comprehensive traffic management project was recently implemented. An area traffic control system that controls traffic signals in the city based on the traffic conditions was introduced, and other traffic management improvement works such as pavement markings, traffic signs, and median dividers were installed. The project is making a positive impact on road users. Efficient operation and maintenance are key factors for the project to sustain its benefits. Keywords: Traffic management, Traffic signal, Area traffic control, Congestion, Adaptive control

Automation carries paradigm-shifting potential for urban transport and has critical sustainability dimensions for the future of our cities. This article examines the diverse environmental and energy-related dimensions of automated mobility at the city level by reviewing an emerging and increasingly diversified volume of literature for road, rail, water, and air passenger transport. The multimodal nature of this investigation provides the opportunity for a novel contribution that adds value to the literature in four distinctive ways. It reviews from a sustainability angle the state of the art underpinning the transition to a paradigm of automated mobility, identifies current knowledge gaps highlighting the scarcity of non-technical research outside the autonomous car's realm, articulates future directions for research and policy development, and proposes a conceptual model that contextualizes the automation-connectivity-electrification-sharing-multimodality nexus as the only way forward for vehicle automation to reach its pro-environmental and resource-saving potential.

Abstract Emerging technologies will have important impacts on sustainability objectives. Yet little is known about the explicit feedbacks between consumer behaviour and technological change, and the potential impact on mass market penetration. We use the UK as a case-study to explore the dynamic interactions between technology supply, performance, cost, and heterogeneous consumer behaviour and the resulting influence on long term market diffusion. Simulations of competing vehicle technologies indicate that petrol hybrids (HEVs) dominate the market over the long-term because they benefit from improved performance and are able to reach the steep part of the diffusion curve by 2025 while competing technologies remain in the early stages of growth and are easier to displace in the market. This is due to the cumulative build-up of stock and slow fleet turnover creating inertia in the technological system. Consequently, it will be difficult to displace incumbent technologies because of system inertia, cumulative growth in stock, long operational life, and consumer risk aversion to new unproven technologies. However, when accounting for both technological and behavioural change, simulations indicate that if investment can reach 30–40% per annum growth in supply, combined with steady technology improvements, and more sophisticated agent decision making such as accounting for full technology lifecycle cost and performance, full battery electric vehicles could displace the incumbent system by 2050.