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Motorization, the substitution of automobiles and trucks for nonmotorized travel modes, has been examined at national and regional levels. Previous studies indicate that, at the national level, income (gross domestic product per capita) typically explains more than 90% of the variation in vehicle ownership. In terms of travel mode transition, some studies have explained part of this phenomenon, but a comprehensive review has rarely been conducted. In this paper, motorization is examined as an individual and as a household phenomenon. At the personal level, motorization occurs through a series of transitions, stereotypically from nonmotorized to motorized, from shared to privately owned, and from low to high cost. Results of a survey of residents of Shanghai, China, in mid-2006 illustrate these personal transitions, or motorization pathways. On the basis of the survey, motorization pathways in Shanghai were found to be diverse (331 distinct pathways across 992 respondents) and complicated (the pathways of more than 50% of respondents involved more than three stages). Only about half of the respondents came to their current motorization stage through a hypothesized motorization direction. This paper indicates that no common path exists toward private automobile ownership in Shanghai. At least at present, Shanghai residents appear to make a transition away from motorized, expensive, private modes of mobility nearly as often as they transition toward them. This implies not only that widespread use of private cars is not inevitable, but that there are many stages along the motorization pathway where government policies could affect mobility choice and guide Shanghai to a more sustainable future.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which run on both electricity from the grid and gasoline, are touted as providing some of the societal and environmental benefits of electric vehicles for a large portion of motorists' daily travel while also acting as a transitional technology toward fully electric vehicles. To test analysts' assumptions about how PHEV users will recharge their vehicles, the observed recharging behaviors of 40 households that participated in a PHEV demonstration in Northern California are reported. The recharging behavior across all households' last week of their 4-week PHEV trial period is summarized with regard to the time of day, frequency of plugging in, and electricity demand to recharge the vehicles. Although the means of the frequency distribution of plug-in events among demonstration households are similar to prior recharging assumptions made by analysts, the distributions are not symmetrical about the mean and there exists a large variation in both the average number of times households plugged in per day and the average energy per plug-in event. Further, there is no strong correspondence between the number of daily plug-in events and total daily electricity demand. The range of behaviors reported here supports the contention that the success of PHEVs in meeting energy and emission goals relies as much (or more) on PHEV users' recharging and driving behavior as on PHEV designs.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are proposed as both a near-term technology to achieve energy and environmental goals and as a transitional step toward viable all-electric vehicles. To replace assumptions with observations of potential PHEV drivers’ behavior in market and impact analyses, an Internet-based survey of 2,373 new-car–buying households in the United States was conducted. The instrument required households to answer questions, complete a driving and parking diary, and then complete several PHEV design exercises. Three conclusions could be drawn from the resulting data. First, at least half of the target population is already equipped for at-home vehicle recharging but has little opportunity for recharging at the workplace or other locations. Second, the study found that the respondents had widely varied interests in four possible PHEV attributes: fuel economy (in both charge-depleting and charge-sustaining operations), blended versus all-electric operation, the distance over which the vehicle is in the charge-depleting mode, and the recharging speed. Nevertheless, the appeal of increased fuel economy appears to be the highest and that of faster recharging appears to be the lowest. Furthermore, there is little interest in all-electric operation. Third, given the previous two points, it was estimated that about a third of the target population has both the infrastructure to recharge a PHEV and interest in a vehicle with plug-in capabilities. Policy, technology, and energy providers may use this information to understand whether their plans, designs, and goals align with these present understandings or whether it would be collectively beneficial to foster new understandings of PHEVs among U.S. car buyers.

This article examines early users’ experiences with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). At the time that this study was conducted, in the winter and spring of 2007, PHEVs were not yet commercialized. Still, Americans were becoming aware of PHEVs and 25 to 30 vehicles converted from hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) to PHEVs were on the road. In interviews with 23 drivers of these vehicles, the present study explored their motivations for converting an HEV to PHEV operation, how they used and recharged their vehicles, and their visions for future PHEV designs. What drivers think about PHEVs, including the benefits and drawbacks that they perceive, was also investigated. Although today's PHEV drivers may not represent either present mainstream American car buyers or future buyers of PHEVs, their behavior and viewpoints offer hypotheses about what ideas might motivate other consumers and clues about how PHEVs will be used by other consumers and may shape both the PHEV technologies offered in the future and the reasons why future consumers will value PHEVs. For example, the group of PHEV pioneers evaluated in the present study is primarily interested in a greater all-electric driving range and performance; they are secondarily interested in high gasoline fuel economy, which they typically report without accounting for electricity from the grid. Which of these two ideas–-all-electric driving and high miles per gallon–-will motivate more consumers? The desirability of feedback to drivers on their on-road energy use and their total gasoline plus electric energy use is also highlighted.