Economic appraisal of implementing electric vehicle taxis in Seoul

Seong-Cheol Kang and Hoyoung Lee

Research in Transportation Economics, 2019, vol. 73, issue C, 45-52

Abstract: Global commitments for climate change mitigation and sustainable development have given the electric vehicle renewed attention as a critical building block of sustainable transport. However, the diffusion of electric vehicles has been limited so far. In an effort to facilitate scaled-up deployment of electric vehicles, this paper examines the economic feasibility of replacing the current fleet of fossil fuel taxis in Seoul with electric vehicle (EV) taxis by gradually phasing out the former based on their operational lifetime. In the cost-benefit analysis for such a transition, costs of purchasing vehicles and constructing and maintaining charging infrastructure are estimated based on the market prices and characteristics of taxi transport in Seoul. On the benefit side, the avoided environmental costs due to reduced air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions are calculated. Traffic assignment is incorporated in the calculation process for a better estimation of the avoided costs through more accurate link flows and speeds on the road network. Savings in fuel and maintenance costs are also estimated. The resultant benefit-cost ratio signifies economic viability of the deployment of EV taxis. The results of the study are encouraging and could strengthen the argument for pushing the transition to electric vehicles forward.

Keywords: Electric vehicle taxi; Air pollutant; Greenhouse gas; Economic appraisal; Sustainable transport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D61 H43 L91 Q51 Q54 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885919300617
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:retrec:v:73:y:2019:i:c:p:45-52

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_2&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2018.11.007

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Transportation Economics is currently edited by M. Dresner

More articles in Research in Transportation Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().