Abstract
The combination of car-sharing and electric vehicles can increase the acceptance of electric vehicles and facilitate car-sharing to be a more sustainable means of transport. However, this also poses more challenges for the good planning of electric car-sharing systems. To assist car-sharing companies in improving the planning decisions, this paper developed an evaluation framework from a comprehensive view. In the first step, four evaluation criteria were identified according to the planning process: construction of stations; routine inspection; vehicle usability and relocation management; and the maintenance and replacement of stations. Then, a combinatorial method based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP), cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and Voronoi diagram (VD) is developed to determine the relative weight of the four criteria and evaluate the alternative. Finally, the evaluation framework was applied in a realistic case of EVCARD, which is the most influential electric car-sharing company in China. The performance of two different operational districts of EVCARD—Jingan and Changning—were compared. The results showed that vehicle usability and relocation management is the greatest criterion influencing the planning performance of the electric car-sharing system in China, and that routine inspection is a negligible but important factor. According to the relative scores, Jiagan District performed better than Changning district.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, road transport has been considered to be a main unsustainable source regarding its large and increasing contribution to high oil dependency and global air pollution, traffic congestion and parking difficulty, and traffic accidents [1,2]
We contribute to the existing literature by developing a comprehensive evaluation framework consisting of evaluation criteria and an evaluation method
Through a literature review and expert interviews, four major evaluation criteria were determined: construction of stations, routine inspection, vehicle usability and relocation management, and maintenance and replacement of stations. These criteria present a comprehensive consideration of the whole planning process of the ECSS
Summary
Over the past few decades, road transport has been considered to be a main unsustainable source regarding its large and increasing contribution to high oil dependency and global air pollution, traffic congestion and parking difficulty, and traffic accidents [1,2]. Most of these challenges are related to the rapid increase in the private ownership of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). The combination of them (i.e., electric car-sharing system (ECSS)) can help overcome the disadvantages of EVs such as a relatively high initial purchasing cost and the inconvenience of recharging, and further facilitate CS to be a more sustainable means of transportation [11,12]
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