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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). 

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

Global Warming Potential from Build-Out and Maintenance of Global Roadway Networks

  • Principal Investigator John Harvey, Ph.D.
  • University of California, Davis
The goal of this project is to produce a first-order estimate of future global warming potential from road building, maintenance, and rehabilitation for the world’s road networks and put this into context with other expected transportation-related greenhouse gases.
Project Status
In Progress

Evaluation of Travel and the Built Environment in Small and Rural Communities

  • Principal Investigator Dana Rowangould, Ph.D.
  • University of Vermont
This research will evaluate the relationship between travel and the built environment in rural regions. The results of this research will inform GHG mitigation and transportation and land use planning in rural regions across the US.
Project Status
In Progress

Cooperative eco-approach and departure (EAD) along signalized corridors

  • Principal Investigator Zhensong Wei
  • University of California, Riverside
The objectives of the research project are to: 1) Combine cooperativity and the EAD to reduce the negative effect of the increasing penetration rate and 2) conduct field tests in existing connected vehicle testbeds and extend the scope to corridors or networks and study the energy optimization approach for multiple intersections.
Project Status
Complete