VEHICLE OWNERSHIP TRANSITION AND SUSTAINABILITY IMPACTS IN CHINA

With considerable economic growth and technology development, China is rapidly experiencing motorization and a dramatic expansion of the transportation system. This dissertation centers on exploring vehicle ownership in China with new transportation technology influencing, and addresses the sustainability implications. First, it examines household vehicle purchase decisions across 59 cities in China with broad geographic, environmental, and socio-economic characteristics, focusing on a subset of households who own e-bikes and relying on a telephone survey from an industry customer database. Second, this dissertation presents a study on public perceptions and purchase intention towards new energy vehicles (battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), and discusses factors influencing new energy vehicle purchase and illustrates policy implications, using an intercept survey in Beijing. Third, this dissertation reveals daily use patterns and users’ experience of an emerging transportation mode (micro electric vehicle) in China using a semi-structure interview. Users’ purchase decision, mode choice, safety perception, vehicle status, and future usage are discussed. Lastly, a behavioral life cycle assessment (LCA) model that includes explicit, probability-based behavioral inputs that influence choices in the LCA process is built. Furthermore, an LCA model for transportation system for China is developed using China’s manufacture inventory data