Assessing electric mobility feasibility based on naturalistic driving data

In a context where electric mobility is gaining increasing importance as a more sustainable solution for urban environments, this work presents an analysis of electric mobility feasibility and adequacy based on private users' naturalistic driving data. Several scenarios were tested to evaluate different charging event opportunities and their impacts on electric mobility feasibility. In more detail, scenario 1 considered that vehicles would recharge whenever they are stopped for 2, 4 or 6 h, either on weekdays or weekend days; scenario 2 tested the hypothesis of recharging only during the night period; and scenario 3 assumed that vehicles would recharge during the day on weekdays. Furthermore, the potential energy impacts of electric mobility at a city level, by applying a driver and street level approach, were also estimated. Results revealed that electric mobility is highly feasible for weekday urban trips, while weekend trips due to their higher average distance are less suitable to be performed by EVs. Scenario 1, due to its higher recharging opportunities was found to be the best-case scenario. In this case, the percentage of eligible trips was found to be equal to or higher than 94% and 88% on weekdays and weekend days, respectively. Results showed also the lower electric mobility feasibility if considering only daytime charging, on weekdays (scenario 3). However, if considering night charging (scenario 2), the electric mobility eligibility was found to improve significantly. When considering a street level analysis, the potential reduction in energy consumption ranges in average from −60 to −70%, enabling the visualization of higher EV potential, with increasing potential for reducing energy consumption for increasing road grades. Concluding, since electric mobility is particularly suited for urban driving and most households detain 2 or more vehicles, there is a high potential to replace at least one ICEV by an EV. In this case, people may adapt their driving behavior, using the EV for their day-to-day urban driving while the ICEV would be used for longer trips. Nonetheless, the capacity to recharge during night plays a significant role on trips eligibility. Therefore, the availability of home-charge set-ups or a much higher deployment of public charging stations at residential locations are required in order to incentivize drivers to shift towards electric mobility.