Christopher R. Cherry

Electric Vehicles in China: Emissions and Health Impacts

E-bikes in China are the single largest adoption of alternative fuel vehicles in history, with more than 100 million e-bikes purchased in the past decade and vehicle ownership about 2× larger for e-bikes as for conventional cars; e-car sales, too, are rapidly growing. We compare emissions (CO(2), PM(2.5), NO(X), HC) and environmental health impacts (primary PM(2.5)) from the use of conventional vehicles (CVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) in 34 major cities in China. CO(2) emissions (g km(-1)) vary and are an order of magnitude greater for e-cars (135-274) and CVs (150-180) than for e-bikes (14-27). PM(2.5) emission factors generally are lower for CVs (gasoline or diesel) than comparable EVs. However, intake fraction is often greater for CVs than for EVs because combustion emissions are generally closer to population centers for CVs (tailpipe emissions) than for EVs (power plant emissions). For most cities, the net result is that primary PM(2.5) environmental health impacts per passenger-km are greater for e-cars than for gasoline cars (3.6× on average), lower than for diesel cars (2.5× on average), and equal to diesel buses. In contrast, e-bikes yield lower environmental health impacts per passenger-km than the three CVs investigated: gasoline cars (2×), diesel cars (10×), and diesel buses (5×). Our findings highlight the importance of considering exposures, and especially the proximity of emissions to people, when evaluating environmental health impacts for EVs.

Electric Two-Wheelers in China: Effect on Travel Behavior, Mode Shift, and User Safety Perceptions in a Medium-Sized City

Despite rapid economic growth in China during the past decade and the rise in personal car ownership, most Chinese still rely on two-wheeled vehicles (2WVs) or public transport for commuting. The majority of these 2WVs are bicycles. In recent years, concern about poor air quality in urban areas and rising energy costs have caused cities to ban gasoline-powered scooters in city centers. Simultaneously, a new 2WV mode emerged to fill the void: the electric bike (e-bike). This shift to e-bikes is occurring rapidly throughout China, especially in its cities. E-bike sales reached 10 million per year in 2005 as more bike and public transit users shifted to this mode. City planners and policy makers are undecided on how to plan for and regulate e-bikes because it is not yet clear what effect they will have on travel behavior, public transportation use, and safety. To begin to understand these effects, bike and e-bike users were surveyed in Shijiazhuang, a medium-size city with particularly high 2WV use, to identify differences in travel characteristics and attitudes. The following conclusions were reached (partial list): (a) e-bikes are enabling people to commute longer distances, with important implications for energy use, accessibility, and urban expansion of cities; (b) people underserved by public transportation are shifting to e-bikes; and (c) women feel safer crossing intersections on an e-bike compared with a regular bike, but they have strong reservations about increasing e-bike speed capability.

E-bikes in the Mainstream: Reviewing a Decade of Research

Abstract Electric bicycles (e-bikes) represent one of the fastest growing segments of the transport market. Over 31 million e-bikes were sold in 2012. Research has followed this growth and this paper provides a synthesis of the most pertinent themes emerging over the past on the burgeoning topic of e-bikes. The focus is transport rather than recreational e-bike research, as well as the most critical research gaps requiring attention. China leads the world in e-bike sales, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. E-bikes can maintain speed with less effort. E-bikes are found to increase bicycle usage. E-bikes have the potential to displace conventional motorised (internal combustion) modes, but there are open questions about their role in displacing traditional bicycles. E-bikes have been shown to provide health benefits and an order of magnitude less carbon dioxide than a car travelling the same distance. Safety issues have emerged as a policy issue in several jurisdictions and e-bike numbers are now approaching levels in which adequate safety data are able to be collected. Research on e-bikes is still in its infancy. As e-bike usage continues to grow, so too will the need for further research, in order to provide the necessary data to inform policy-makers and industry.

Health hazards of China's lead-acid battery industry: a review of its market drivers, production processes, and health impacts.

Despite China’s leaded gasoline phase out in 2000, the continued high rates of lead poisoning found in children’s blood lead levels reflect the need for identifying and controlling other sources of lead pollution. From 2001 to 2007, 24% of children in China studied (N = 94,778) were lead poisoned with levels exceeding 100 μg/L. These levels stand well above the global average of 16%. These trends reveal that China still faces significant public health challenges, with millions of children currently at risk of lead poisoning. The unprecedented growth of China’s lead-acid battery industry from the electric bike, automotive, and photovoltaic industries may explain these persistently high levels, as China remains the world’s leading producer, refiner, and consumer of both lead and lead-acid batteries.This review assesses the role of China’s rising lead-acid battery industry on lead pollution and exposure. It starts with a synthesis of biological mechanisms of lead exposure followed by an analysis of the key technologies driving the rapid growth of this industry. It then details the four main stages of lead battery production, explaining how each stage results in significant lead loss and pollution. A province-level accounting of each of these industrial operations is also included. Next, reviews of the literature describe how this industry may have contributed to mass lead poisonings throughout China. Finally, the paper closes with a discussion of new policies that address the lead-acid battery industry and identifies policy frameworks to mitigate exposure.This paper is the first to integrate the market factors, production processes, and health impacts of China’s growing lead-acid battery industry to illustrate its vast public health consequences. The implications of this review are two-fold: it validates calls for a nationwide assessment of lead exposure pathways and levels in China as well as for a more comprehensive investigation into the health impacts of the lead-acid battery industry. The continuous growth of this industry signals the urgent need for effective regulatory action to protect the health and lives of China’s future generations.

Risky riding: naturalistic methods comparing safety behavior from conventional bicycle riders and electric bike riders

As electric bicycles (e-bikes) have emerged as a new transportation mode, their role in transportation systems and their impact on users have become important issues for policy makers and engineers. Little safety-related research has been conducted in North America or Europe because of their relatively small numbers. This work describes the results of a naturalistic GPS-based safety study between regular bicycle (i.e., standard bicycle) and e-bike riders in the context of a unique bikesharing system that allows comparisons between instrumented bike technologies. We focus on rider safety behavior under four situations: (1) riding in the correct direction on directional roadway segments, (2) speed on on-road and shared use paths, (3) stopping behavior at stop-controlled intersections, and (4) stopping behavior at signalized intersections. We find that, with few exceptions, riders of e-bike behave very similarly to riders of bicycles. Violation rates were very high for both vehicles. Riders of regular bicycles and e-bikes both ride wrong-way on 45% and 44% of segments, respectively. We find that average on-road speeds of e-bike riders (13.3kph) were higher than regular bicyclists (10.4kph) but shared use path (greenway) speeds of e-bike riders (11.0kph) were lower than regular bicyclists (12.6kph); both significantly different at >95% confidence. At stop control intersections, both bicycle and e-bike riders violate the stop signs at the similar rate with bicycles violating stop signs at a slightly higher rate at low speed thresholds (∼80% violations at 6kph, 40% violations at 11kph). Bicycles and e-bikes violate traffic signals at similar rates (70% violation rate). These findings suggest that, among the same population of users, e-bike riders exhibit nearly identical safety behavior as regular bike riders and should be regulated in similar ways. Users of both technologies have very high violation rates of traffic control devices and interventions should occur to improve compliance.

Illegal mid-block pedestrian crossings in China: gap acceptance, conflict and crossing path analysis

China has experienced unprecedented economic growth and changes in urban form in the past decades. Increased urbanisation and motorisation puts pedestrians and automobiles at greater conflict. Because of Chinas long urban blocks (superblocks), many conflicts occur mid-block at informal or illegal crossings. This study focuses on factors influencing mid-block crossing and gap acceptance. We remotely observed illegal mid-block crossing of a six-lane urban arterial in Kunming, China, tracking 522 accepted gaps and 152 rejected gaps in a two-stage crossing (roadside to median and median to roadside). We fit a probit discrete outcome model to the data to estimate environmental determinants of gap acceptance (and rejection) behaviour, including gap size, vehicle speed, time waiting and gap lane position. We also estimate a conflict model, focusing on parameters that influence the probability of vehicle speed changes or lane deviations.

Environmental Justice Aspects of Exposure to PM2.5 Emissions from Electric Vehicle Use in China

Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) in China aim to improve sustainability and reduce environmental health impacts of transport emissions. Urban use of EVs rather than conventional vehicles shifts transportations air pollutant emissions from urban areas (tailpipes) to predominantly rural areas (power plants), changing the geographic distribution of health impacts. We model PM2.5-related health impacts attributable to urban EV use for 34 major cities. Our investigation focuses on environmental justice (EJ) by comparing pollutant inhalation versus income among impacted counties. We find that EVs could increase EJ challenge in China: most (~77%, range: 41-96%) emission inhalation attributable to urban EVs use is distributed to predominately rural communities whose incomes are on average lower than the cities where EVs are used. Results vary dramatically across cities depending on urban income and geography. Discriminant analysis reveals that counties with low income and high inhalation of urban EV emissions have comparatively higher agricultural employment rates, higher mortality rates, more children in the population, and lower education levels. We find that low-emission electricity sources such as renewable energy can help mitigate EJ issues raised here. Findings here are not unique to EVs, but instead are relevant for nearly all electricity-consuming technologies in urban areas.

Design of a Map-Based Transit Itinerary Planner

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have provided a platform to present information over the Internet to potential users of public transportation. The advantage of using a GIS is that it allows the user to select an origin and destination on a map, easing the task of inputting information to the itinerary-planning process. In addition, the mapping features of GIS can provide a user-specific map showing the route(s) used in the itinerary, as well as local access, egress, and bus stop information. In this article, the design issues associated with the use of GIS in itinerary generation are discussed. Specific design principles are articulated, based on existing knowledge of requirements for the human-computer interface (HCI). In application of these principles, this article describes the implementation of an ArcIMS GIS-based itinerary planner for the Sun Tran bus network in Tucson, Arizona. This system provides users the option of selecting their origin or destination on the map, manually entering an address, or selecting a landmark from a pull-down menu. The routing algorithm then finds the optimum path, and the output is presented to the user both in text and on the map. This is unique from other itinerary planners because it provides an interactive point-and-click map feature that can be implemented using commercially available GIS software.

Evaluation of Vehicular Communication Networks in a Car Sharing System

Yet even with an increase in car sharing programs worldwide, there has been little research on the application of Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) in car sharing systems. This study employed three parameters of communication networks to evaluate VANET performance in car sharing systems. The integration of vehicle mobility generation and vehicular communication networks simulation is crucial to this research. A variety of scenarios on a partial Manhattan grid network were simulated to assess the influence of different parameters in the communication network. Through the performance analysis, it evaluates the feasibility of VANET in car sharing systems and gives some suggestions for future field deployment.

Statewide Rural-Urban Bus Travel Demand and Network Evaluation: An Application in Tennessee

This paper examines the characteristics of intercity bus riders within Tennessee, and proposes methods to identify service gaps and prioritize network expansion, particularly focusing on rural-urban connections. Data were collected through an on-board survey, and compared with intercity auto trips. Compared to personal auto users, intercity bus riders are more likely to be of minority races, unemployed, unable to drive, and from low-income households. Five demand levels were determined based on the population distribution with these characteristics. The service areas of existing bus stops were identified and compared with the high demand areas. The result shows that an insufficient number of stops are located in high demand areas. Still, approximately 80 percent of stops connect to meaningful destinations such as hospitals. The results imply that bus stations are well connected to destinations, but poorly connected to potential riders. Changes to the current network could better cover high demand areas.