How using battery electric vehicles influences travel behaviour in New Zealand : A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Planning at Lincoln University

Abstract

To reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, the New Zealand government is promoting battery electric vehicle (BEV) uptake. However, few studies have examined how travel behaviour may change as people switch from driving internal combustion vehicles (ICVs) to BEVs in New Zealand. Understanding such changes helps predict and manage the potential adverse effects brought by the increasing number of BEVs. This study aims to investigate how using BEV influences travel behaviour in New Zealand. In this context, the “travel behaviour” means the annual vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), the number of private car trips carried out each day, and private car distance travelled each day. To achieve the research aim, this study employed two methods. One was analysing Warrant of Fitness (WoF) data of BEV and internal combustion vehicles (ICV) in equivalent households and comparing their annual VKT. The other was conducting a one-day travel survey among the BEV users in New Zealand and comparing those results with the New Zealand Household Travel Survey (HTS) equivalent data. The result showed that BEVs were used for moderately higher annual VKT than ICVs in the equivalent households. The BEV users conducted more but shorter private car daily trips and longer private car daily distance than ICV users. The results indicate that BEV adoption could induce additional private car use. Based on this, pay-as-use mechanism, improved public transport, proper urban design, and indirect policies that shift the existing travel mindset could mitigate and manage the additional use of BEV and its adverse effects. To produce a clearer picture of BEV travel behaviour change in New Zealand, future studies could examine the travel behaviour changes before-and-after BEV adoption in the same households, the daily travel pattern in different periods of the year, and the attitudes toward and perceptions of the BEV use held by the New Zealand people.