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Projects

The National Center for Sustainable Transportation funds a variety of research grants, organized by our three research themes (Infrastructure Provision; Travel Demand; and Vehicle Technology), and by project type (applied research projects, white papers / research synthesis, seed grants, translational projects, dissertation grants, and graduate student-led research). 

Assessing the Charging Needs of Multi-EV Households in California

  • Principal Investigator Gil Tal, Ph.D.
  • University of California, Davis
This project will determine the market penetration and charging infrastructure needs of multi-EV households by region and community in California from 2022 to 2040, with a particular focus on how access to charging will affect the rate at which households acquire additional EVs and on the difficulties of expanding EV ownership in Disadvantaged Communities in California.
Project Status
In Progress

Applying Topological Data Analysis to Logistics Systems Analysis

  • Principal Investigator John Carlsson
  • University of Southern California
The purpose of this project is to apply computational tools from topological data analysis (TDA) to study the logistics systems in the state of California and the USA, with an emphasis on freight networks.
Project Status
In Progress

Cost Sensitivity and Charging Choices of Plug-in Electric Vehicle Drivers – A Stated Preference Study

  • Principal Investigator Gil Tal, Ph.D.
  • University of California, Davis
Using stated preference choice experiments, this study tries to fill the two gaps in the literature mentioned here: identify the drivers of choice of charging location during non-routine charging events and quantitative estimates of consumer preference for pricing strategies and other charging infrastructure attributes in case of routine nonhome charging events.
Project Status
In Progress

Stochastic Ride Sharing System with Flexible Pickup and Drop-off

  • Principal Investigator Maged Dessouky, Ph.D.
  • University of Southern California
The purpose of this research is to provide a ride-sharing planning scheme that will consider all three sources of uncertainties to provide a robust travel plan while at the same time reducing travel time for the commuters.
Project Status
Complete

Using Machine Learning Models to Forecast Electric Vehicle Destination and Charging Behavior

  • Principal Investigator Christopher Nitta, Ph.D.
  • University of California, Davis
This study aims to develop a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), an artificial neural network that is highly effective at learning sequential data such as trip logs, to forecast EVs’ trip destinations and charging behavior—information that is essential for electricity load aggregators to effectively manage charging loads.
Project Status
In Progress

Do Fuel Taxes Face Ideological or Economic Opposition? Evidence from Voting on Proposition 6 and Lessons for Policymaking

  • Principal Investigator Erich Muehlegger, Ph.D.
  • University of California, Davis
This project seeks to unpack the political opposition to gasoline taxes, by examining how precinct-level support for California Proposition 6, which would have immediately reduced state gasoline taxes, covaries with the political ideology of voters and the economic burden of gasoline taxes.
Project Status
In Progress