Project Summary
The purpose of this project is to analyze the impact of state and local incentives on household ownership of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) using generalized path analysis and structural equation models (SEM) while accounting for residential self-selection and demographic characteristics. Incentives include parking privileges, HOV access exemption, income tax credit, sales tax, and rebates. Two public datasets will be analyzed: the 2009 NHTS and the 2012 CHTS. They will be supplemented with household location information already available to the PI (via request to FHWA for the NHTS and thanks to a Caltrans contract for the CHTS), land use data, and information about incentive programs. To correctly account for incentive impacts, we will restrict our analysis to households who purchased a vehicle during the year when either survey was conducted. Understanding the effectiveness of various government policies is important at a time when there is increased interest in promoting AFVs/HEVs to address our dependence on foreign oil, air pollution and global warming.
