Publications

The National Center for Sustainable Transportation primarily publishes research reports, white papers / research synthesis papers, and policy/research briefs. NCST funding also supports the production of journal articles, conference papers, books, dissertations, theses, presentations, posters, and more.

Impacts of the Federal Tax Credit on the Decision to Lease or Purchase a Plug-in Electric Vehicle

Research Product Type
Policy Brief
To mitigate climate change and air pollution, multiple US states and other countries have been crafting policies aimed at shifting sales from conventional vehicles to plug-in electric vehicles. A key to developing these policies is understanding how financial incentives affect consumers’ decisions to purchase or lease PEVs. To better understand this, researchers at the University of California, Davis, analyzed survey responses from approximately 2,800 California PEV owners.

End of Life EV Battery Policy Simulator: A dynamic systems, mixed-methods approach

Research Product Type
Research Report
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) advancements include the use of rapidly evolving and chemically diverse batteries as well as larger battery packs, raising concerns about battery production sustainability as well as battery end-of-life (EoL). This study seeks to respond to these concerns by analyzing potential pathways for EoL EV batteries, quantifies flows of retiring EV battery materials, proposes economically and environmentally preferable LIB EoL strategies, and recommends pertinent policies with an emphasis on environmental justice.

Stochastic Ridesharing System with Flexible Pickup and Drop-off

Research Product Type
Research Report
A robust rideshare system needs to take uncertainties such as traffic congestion and passenger cancellations into account. In this report, the authors propose a data-driven stochastic rideshare system that integrates those sources of uncertainties.

Developing an Efficient Dispatching Strategy to Support Commercial Fleet Electrification

Research Product Type
Research Report
The adoption of battery electric trucks (BETs) has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however, challenges like shorter driving range and lower payload capacity necessitates a better understanding of energy-efficient dispatching of BET fleets. This project addresses that concern through developing an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm that, through experimenting with a real-world case study, is shown to achieve significant energy consumption reduction.

Household Vehicle Choice in California: Behavior and Impacts

Research Product Type
Policy Brief
An increasing diversity of vehicle types, paired with a growing demand for PEVs, has major implications for vehicle miles traveled (VMT), air pollution, and emissions. To better understand what is likely to happen, researchers predict household vehicle preference and VMT by vehicle body and fuel type.

California Cities Face Trade-offs in Developing Plans and Policies for Transit-Oriented Development

Research Product Type
Policy Brief
Transit-oriented development—higher-density residential or mixed-use development centered around high-quality transit stations—has emerged as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases while increasing housing supply. Researchers at the University of California, Davis completed in-depth case studies of 11 California cities to understand their mix of strategies and how they have needed to reconcile sometimes competing policy goals in advancing transit-oriented development.

If Pooling with a Discount were Available for the Last Solo-Ridehailing Trip, How Much Additional Travel Time Would Users Have Accepted and for Which Types of Trips?

Research Product Type
Research Report
This research explicitly models taste heterogeneity towards pooled ridehailing. In addition, unlike existing studies either at the person level or employing stated-preference data, a trip-level analysis is performed in connection with revealed preferences, which generates more realistic and relevant implications to policy and practice.

Southern California Transit Training Consortium Online Training in Electrical Systems and Battery Electric Safety Training

Research Product Type
Research Report
In partnership with the Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium (SCRTTC), the California State University at Long Beach expanded potential audiences and offered program support for the Electric Vehicle Transit Bus High Voltage Safety Awareness class, which was previously developed under the National Center for Sustainable Transportation. The course was designed to enhance a technician's basic electrical skills and 2-circuit diagnosis, while teaching students how to work with a Digital Volt-Ohm Meter.

Coordinated Traffic Flow Control in a Connected Environment

Research Product Type
Research Report
Some field studies have observed reductions in travel time by coordinating freeway ramps with adjacent arterial signals. To advance the investigation, the researchers propose an integrated traffic management strategy that involves variable speed limit, lane change, ramp metering for freeway traffic flow control, and a traffic-responsive signal control scheme for adjacent traffic light intersections.

Prediction framework for parking search cruising time and emissions in dense urban areas

Research Product Type
Associated Publication
This paper: (1) uses empirical data and conducts descriptive and comparative analysis using a spatial lag model to analyze the factors influencing average cruising time (ACT) related to parking search, and (2) proposes a novel framework to predict grid-based ACT and to estimate average emission metrics (AEM).

Mode Share Changes in California: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Affecting Decreases in Walking, Biking and Transit Use from 2012 to 2017

Research Product Type
White Paper
This paper compares factors impacting mode shares in 2012 and in 2017 to answer part of the question about why we see this decrease in the use of active modes over this period and what types of planning, programs, and policy actions may help to reverse this trend and get California back on track to increase walking, biking and the use of public transit.

Technical and Economic Assessment of Transportation Electrification in Heavy-Duty On-Road and Off-Road Applications

Research Product Type
Dissertation / Thesis
This dissertation focuses on the assessment of technical feasibility and economic workability of BEVs in a variety of heavy-duty on- and off-road applications.In the on-road HDV segment, battery electric trucks (BETs) have become commercially available in recent years, but their ability to operate at the same level as conventional diesel trucks was unclear.

The Policy and Politics of Highway Expansions

Research Product Type
Dissertation / Thesis
This mixed-methods dissertation explores questions related to the governance landscape and the institutional and political factors that surround highway expansion projects.

Estimating last-mile deliveries and shopping travel emissions by 2050

Research Product Type
Associated Publication
This study investigates the potential ramifications of e-commerce on shopping behaviors, travel, and residential deliveries by the year 2050. The study underscores the significance of contemplating the implementation of clean energy fleets and effective transportation strategies to mitigate the negative externalities related to shopping activities.