A Route Choice Model for Capturing Driver Preferences When Driving Electric and Conventional Vehicles

Anders F. Jensen, Thomas K. Rasmussen and Carlo G. Prato
Additional contact information
Anders F. Jensen: Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
Thomas K. Rasmussen: Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
Carlo G. Prato: School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, 4072 Brisbane, Australia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) play an important role in the needed transition away from fossil fuels and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs). Although transport planning models and routing problem solutions exist for BEVs, the assumption that BEV drivers search for the shortest path while constraining energy consumption does not have any empirical basis. This study presents a study of actual route choice behavior of drivers from 107 Danish households participating in a large-scale experiment with BEVs and at the same time driving their ICEVs. GPS traces from 8968 BEV and 6678 ICEV routes were map matched to a detailed road network to construct observed routes, and a route choice model was specified and estimated to capture behavioral differences related to the vehicle type. The results reveal that drivers had a higher sensitivity to travel time and trip length when driving BEVs, and to route directness after receiving the BEV, regardless of vehicle type. The results suggest the need to revise the assumptions of transport planning models and routing problems for BEVs in order not to fail to predict what drivers will do by ignoring differences and similarities related to vehicle type.

Keywords: Battery Electric Vehicles; Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles; route choice behavior; driver preferences; discrete choice models; driving behavior; utility maximization; direct routes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1149/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1149/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:1149-:d:316975

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().