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| 2. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-
(författare)
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Energy Efficient Vehicle Policy: Lessons Learnt : An analysis of the effects of incentive policies on the demand, usage and pricing of energy efficient vehicles.
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Encouraging the uptake of energy efficient vehicles (EEVs) is an aspiration of critical importance in a day and age in which we are confronted with the increasingly dire consequences of human behaviour on our planet, and on the planet for generations to come. The transport sector is one of the highest contributors of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, whilst pollution from this sector is responsible for a large proportion of human deaths each and every year. Given the severity of these issues, it is more important than ever for policy-makers, and researchers alike, to encourage a transition within the community towards more sustainable lifestyles. Transportation is key to this change.As a service that every human being uses, almost every day of his or her life, the transport sector presents a unique opportunity for behavioural change. Through efficient and targeted policies, consumers can be incentivised to make more sustainable transport choices and to consider the consequences of their own actions. Foremost amongst these initiatives is that of encouraging a transition towards energy efficient vehicles.This thesis has been produced in order to shed further light on issues affecting this transition. In particular for policy-makers, this document includes a series of recommendations based on prevailing findings in the current literature, in addition to the novel and significant findings of this research effort. These include the various lessons learnt from government policies that have already been implemented in regions around the globe.As a thesis by publication, this document consists of four research articles that investigate factors affecting the EEV market, specifically in terms of: consumer demand, vehicle usage and product pricing. A number of other demographic and economic factors have also been examined, including the role of economies-of-scale.
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| 3. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-
(författare)
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Making the Transition to a ‘Green’ Vehicle Fleet : An analysis of the choice and usage effects of incentivising the adoption of low-emission vehicles
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Making the transition to a ‘green’ vehicle fleet is a noteworthy endeavour for any policy maker. Under the current global pressures of increasing greenhouse gas emissions there is no doubt that all efforts that can be adopted in order to improve the sustainability of our cities should be explored. In saying this however, it is crucial when designing such policies that proper cost-benefit analyses are performed; taking into account the potentially negative rebound effects of such measures and understanding which individuals are affected by such policies.Comprising of two papers, this thesis analyses the choice and usage effects of an exemption for low-emission vehicles (LEVs) from Stockholm’s congestion charging scheme. The ambition of this study has been to understand: the extent to which this exemption policy influenced the demand for LEVs; which individuals were targeted; whether the policy led to any rebound effects (increased LEV usage); and ultimately what the effect of this policy was in terms of changes in emissions.Paper I employs a MNL model to examine the demographics of those individuals who purchased an LEV in Stockholm during 2008 and the extent to which the exemption policy influenced this demand. It was found that those owners living within the cordon but who commuted across the boundary for work had the highest propensity towards purchasing an exempt LEV. The exemption policy was found to have increased the share of exempt LEVs by 1.9% to 18.9% in total, corresponding to an additional 550 exempt LEV purchases in 2008 due to this policy.In Paper II, the differences in annual usage rates between demographically-similar LEV and conventional vehicle owners are calculated using propensity score matching in order to control for potential self-selection effects. Through this procedure it was found that the direct emissions of vehicle owners who adopted LEVs were reduced by 52.4%. Although the exemption policy was partially responsible for increasing the number of LEVs, it also appears to have encouraged an increase in annual usage, leading to rebound effects that offset the potential reduction in emissions (increase in LEV usage: 12.2% for owners that lived inside / worked outside cordon; 8.5% for owners that lived outside / worked inside cordon).Through the analysis detailed in the two papers of this thesis, the effects of an incentive based policy in Stockholm upon both the demand and usage of LEVs have been highlighted. The benefits, as well as the possible complications of this initiative have also been discussed, in the hope of enlightening policy makers to ensure that potential emissions reductions are maximised for similar policy initiatives in the future. With personal vehicles likely to continue dominating the share of home-work trips over the coming years, cities must continue their efforts in encouraging the transition to a ‘green’ vehicle fleet. It is important, however, that these efforts lead to incentive based policies that are balanced, reasonable, and designed to minimise potentially substantial rebound effects.
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| 4. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-
(författare)
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PUSHING THE MARKET TOWARDS ITS “TIPPING-POINT”: What conditions support a sustainable transition towards energy efficient vehicles?
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Economic incentives have been employed around the world to encourage a shift towards Energy Efficient Vehicles (EEVs). In many regions, however, these support programs have been prematurely withdrawn due to either a change in government or a change in sentiment about the ongoing fiscal costs. Soon after the withdrawal of these incentive programs, markets have generally ‘bounced- back’ towards conventional vehicles, possibly because economies-of-scale effects have not been attained. Here, we construct a stylized model of vehicle and mode choice, partly based on data from Stockholm, Sweden, to investigate the impacts of varying the design of an EEV incentive (congestion tax exemption) and levels of economies-of-scale to better understand what is required to ensure a self- sustaining, long-term transition. Findings from this model illustrate how important it is for policy-makers to monitor the cost differentials, for both fixed and variable costs of EEV ownership, in order to identify the market’s “tipping-point” and avoid a market bounce-back after an incentive is phased out.
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| 5. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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The Brisbane Cordon scheme : part A - preliminary investigation
- 2011
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Ingår i: eddBE2011 Proceedings. ; , s. 295-300
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- It could be said that road congestion is one of the most significant problems within any modern metropolitan area. For severaldecades now, around the globe, congestion in metropolitan areas has been worsening for two main reasons. Firstly, road congestion hassignificantly increased due to a higher demand for road space because of growth in populations, economic activity and incomes (Hensher &Puckett, 2007). This factor, in conjunction with a significant lack of investment in new road and public transport infrastructure, has seen theroad network capacities of cities exceeded by traffic volumes and thus, resulted in increased traffic congestion. This relentless increase inroad traffic congestion has resulted in a dramatic increase in costs for both the road users and ultimately the metropolitan areas concerned(Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, 2007). In response to this issue, several major cities around the world, including London,Stockholm and Singapore, have implemented congestion-charging schemes in order to combat the effects of road congestion.A congestion-charging scheme provides a mechanism for regulating traffic flows into the congested areas of a city, whilst simultaneouslygenerating public revenue that can be used to improve both the public transport and road networks of the region. The aim of this paper wasto assess the concept of congestion-charging, whilst reflecting on the experiences of various cities that have already implemented suchsystems. The findings from this paper have been used to inform the design of a congestion-charging scheme for the city of Brisbane inAustralia in a supplementary study (Whitehead, Bunker, & Chung, 2011). The first section of this paper examines the background to roadcongestion; the theory behind different congestion-charging schemes; and the various technologies involved with the concept. The secondsection of this paper details the experiences, in relation to implementing a congestion-charging scheme, from the city of Stockholm inSweden. This research has been crucial in forming a list of recommendations and lessons learnt for the design of a congestion-chargingscheme in Australia. It is these recommendations that directly inform the proposed design of the Brisbane Cordon Scheme detailed inWhitehead et al. (2011).
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| 6. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of a congestion charging exemption scheme on the demand for low-emission vehicles
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To stimulate sales of Low-Emission Vehicles (LEVs) it was decided to exempt some of these automobiles from Stockholm’s congestion charge. In this paper the effect this policy had on the demand for LEVs is estimated by simulating different policy scenarios using the results of a multinomial logit model (MNL). This model was based upon owner-specific demographics merged with vehicle registry data for all new private vehicles registered in Stockholm county during 2008. Through this process the characteristics of individuals who had a higher propensity towards purchasing an exempt LEV were identified. The most significant characteristics included inter-cordon residency (positive), distance of home from cordon boundary (negative), and commuting across the cordon boundary (positive). Inter-cordon residents commuting across the boundary had the highest propensity towards purchasing an exempt LEV. Owners under the age of 30 preferred low CO2 petrol/diesel vehicles, whilst those over 30 preferred electric vehicles. In terms of electric vehicles, those living within the cordon had the highest propensity towards this alternative. By calculating vehicle shares from the MNL model, and comparing these with a simulated scenario where the congestion charging exemption was inactive, the policy was found to have a substantial effect, increasing the share of exempt LEVs in Stockholm by 1.9% to a total share of 18.9% (13.1% increase for inter-cordon residents commuting over the boundary; 5.0% increase for outer city residents commuting over the boundary). In other words, the exemption policy was found to have increased LEV purchases in Stockholm, during 2008, by approximately 550 vehicles.
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| 7. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of a congestion pricing exemption on the demand for new energy efficient vehicles in Stockholm
- 2014
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Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 70, s. 24-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As governments seek to transition to more efficient vehicle fleets, one strategy has been to incentivize ‘green’ vehicle choice by exempting some of these vehicles from road user charges. As an example, to stimulate sales of energy efficient vehicles (EEVs) in Sweden, some of these automobiles were exempted from Stockholm’s congestion tax. In this paper the effect this policy had on the demand for new, privately-owned, exempt EEVs is assessed by first estimating a model of vehicle choice and then by applying this model to simulate vehicle alternative market shares under different policy scenarios. The database used to calibrate the model includes owner-specific demographics merged with vehicle registry data for all new private vehicles registered in Stockholm County during 2008. Characteristics of individuals with a higher propensity to purchase an exempt EEV were identified. The most significant factors included intra-cordon residency (positive), distance from home to the CBD (negative), and commuting across the cordon (positive). By calculating vehicle shares from the vehicle choice model and then comparing these estimates to a simulated scenario where the congestion tax exemption was inactive, the exemption was estimated to have substantially increased the share of newly purchased, private, exempt EEVs in Stockholm by 1.8% (±0.3%; 95% C.I.) to a total share of 18.8%. This amounts to an estimated 10.7% increase in private, exempt EEV purchases during 2008, i.e., 519 privately owned, exempt EEVs.
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| 8. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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The Impact of Different Incentive Policies on Hybrid Electric Vehicle Demand and Price: An International Comparison
- 2019
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Ingår i: World Electric Vehicle Journal. - : MDPI AG. - 2032-6653. ; 10:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Significant efforts to incentivize the uptake of energy efficient vehicles (EEVs) are evident across the globe. Given EEV markets are dynamic, and consumer demand may fluctuate in response to incentives, this may also lead to other market forces influencing prices. An analysis of EEV incentives, therefore, must account for the possible endogeneity between demand and pricing. Here we estimate the effects of different types of incentives on the demand and price premiums of a specific group of EEVs: plug-in and conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). For the first time we dis-entangle the endogeneity between HEV demand and price, using error components three-stage least squares (EC3SLS) regression, and establish that increased HEV price premiums lead to reduced demand. In turn, we also establish that increased HEV demand leads to lower price premiums. Additionally, we find that one-off subsidies are associated with higher consumer demand, however, unlike other types of incentives, are also associated with higher HEV price premiums. This finding suggests that HEV manufacturers and/or dealers are absorbing a significant monetary benefit from one-off subsidies, raising a question regarding the appropriateness of HEV subsidies, particularly in non-HEV manufacturing nations. We also find that higher fuel prices are associated with higher HEV demand and price premiums.
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| 9. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-
(författare)
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The Impacts of Incentive Policies on Energy Efficient Vehicle Demand and Price: An International Comparison
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Significant efforts to incentivize energy efficient vehicles (EEVs) are evident across the globe. Given EEV marketplaces are dynamic and that demand may fluctuate in response to incentives, this may also affect market forces to influence prices. An analysis of EEV incentives, therefore, must account for possible endogeneity between demand and prices. Here we estimate the effects of several different incentives on EEV demand and price premiums across 15 regions between 2008 and 2012. Using error components three-stage least squares (EC3SLS) regression, we dis-entangle the endogeneity between EEV demand and price, finding that increased price premiums lead to reduced marginal demand (MD) and aggregate demand (AD). In turn, increased MD leads to lower price premiums. Upfront subsidies (Type A incentives) are found to increase MD and AD, however, unlike other incentive types, also appear to lead to higher price premiums. We also find fuel price increases lead to higher MD, AD and price premiums.
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| 10. |
- Whitehead, Jake, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Transitioning to energy efficient vehicles : An analysis of the potential rebound effects and subsequent impact upon emissions
- 2015
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Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 74, s. 250-267
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Given the shift toward energy efficient vehicles (EEVs) in recent years, it is important that the effects of this transition are properly examined. This paper investigates some of these effects by analyzing annual kilometers traveled (AKT) of private vehicle owners in Stockholm in 2008. The difference in emissions associated with EEV adoption is estimated, along with the effect of a congestion-pricing exemption for EEVs on vehicle usage. Propensity score matching is used to compare AKT rates of different vehicle owner groups based on the treatments of: EEV ownership and commuting across the cordon, controlling for confounding factors such as demographics. Through this procedure, rebound effects are identified, with some EEV owners found to have driven up to 12.2% further than non-EEV owners. Although some of these differences could be attributed to the congestion-pricing exemption, the results were not statistically significant. Overall, taking into account lifecycle emissions of each fuel type, average EEV emissions were 50.5% less than average non-EEV emissions, with this reduction in emissions offset by 2.0% due to rebound effects. Although it is important for policy-makers to consider the potential for unexpected negative effects in similar transitions, the overall benefit of greatly reduced emissions appears to outweigh any rebound effects present in this case study.
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