Last month the South Bay Cities Council of Governments released a preliminary report about their NEV demonstration project. ??The report was published after only 12 months of data because of “extraordinary positive results.”<\/p>\n
The demonstration project focused on assessing the??viability of NEVs on typical suburban streets in??today???s development pattern. ??A total of 15 households??were involved????and 7 vehicles including a Vantage Crewcab, ??a Columbia Summit, two Wheego Whips, a GEM e4, a GEM e2 and a Miles sedan. ??The project addressed three questions:<\/p>\n
1. Will residents regularly drive NEV\/LUVs on typical suburban streets without special??lanes or signage?<\/p>\n
2. Will NEV\/LUV usage produce significant environmental and economic benefits?<\/p>\n
3. Is large-scale deployment of NEV\/LUVs feasible?<\/p>\n
The answers to the first two were a resounding ‘Yes’ and a conditional ‘Yes’ for the deployment question. ??Data from the project showed that “…the average percentage of all household travel??(VMT) taken in an NEV\/LUV was consistently 22% across all groups. In terms of vehicle??trips, the NEV\/LUVs mode share averaged 26% of the round trips.<\/em>”<\/p>\n In terms of environmental impacts “…Average participating households criteria air pollutants were reduced by 26% – 33%??depending on the specific pollutant being measured.<\/em>”<\/p>\n To facilitate deployment a number of barriers need to be lessened including vehicle price, vehicle quality, consumer education and local government incentives. ??The authors also suggested a medium speed vehicle class would help the transition away from gas autos. ??The project will run a total of 18 months until October 31, 2011. ??Learn more: ??Southbaycities.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last month the South Bay Cities Council of Governments released a preliminary report about their NEV demonstration project. ??The report was published after only 12 months of data because of “extraordinary positive results.” The demonstration project focused on assessing the??viability … Continue reading