Clean Vehicle Technologies Research Articles

A Submodel as a Plug-in for the Assessment of Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions in Urban Mobility Plans

This study provides a comprehensive view of energy consumption and CO2 emissions for different vehicle technologies in real driving cycles. Universal correlation functions have been proposed for different vehicle technologies, associating fuel consumption and CO2 emissions with speed. A submodel was developed, calibrated for the city of Brasília, Brazil, and later used to simulate future scenarios with a higher prevalence of cleaner vehicle technologies, such as ethanol, hybrid, and electric vehicles. The use of the submodel can serve as a valuable tool for decision making in transport planning, allowing for a more realistic determination of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in different traffic conditions, i.e., in real driving cycles. The results obtained using the developed submodel showed that with the increased participation of more efficient vehicles, such as BEV and HEV, and an even greater participation of ethanol-powered vehicles, there is a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. Finally, the use of the developed tool allows managers and specialists in transport planning, through the generation of future scenarios, to propose and implement more effective policies to reduce CO2 emissions, thus contributing to more sustainable mobility.

Characterizing carbon emissions from China V and China VI gasoline vehicles based on portable emission measurement systems

On-road vehicle has been a prominent emission source, hence a key target of control for environment, health, and climate concerns. While considerable efforts have been made to investigate criteria pollutants such as adverse gaseous and particulate emissions across the world, there is limited systematic research to characterize on-road carbon emissions, especially as countries strive to set and achieve various climate goals (i.e., carbon neutrality, carbon peaking by a certain year, etc.) through cleaner vehicle technologies such as the latest vehicle emission standard, China VI (2020). This study used the portable emission measurement system (PEMS) to reveal the real-world emissions from two light-duty gasoline vehicles, one meeting the China V standard and the other China VI. The PEMS measurements were performed secondly in urban and suburban areas respectively, and finally yielded 10 h of rich and finely resolved emissions data. In addition of single-factor analysis, this study employed two machine learning models, stepwise regression and light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), to investigate the coupling effects among vehicle/traffic parameters and identify driving behavior, engine condition, and external environment as key determining factors that affect vehicular carbon emissions. In particular, engine load percent and engine speed were confirmed to be the most dominant factors affecting vehicular carbon emissions under both China V and China VI standards, explaining ∼60% of variability in carbon emissions. As a result, vehicle specific power (VSP) is derived from vehicle travel parameters and used as a surrogate for carbon emission estimation. The external facility and environmental factors turned out significant as well in affecting vehicle carbon emissions: carbon emissions from the same vehicle were significantly higher in an urban setting then in suburban areas, mostly due to the more aggressive driving patterns in congested urban traffic. Travelling under relatively better traffic conditions on expressways gave the lowest per-distance emission factors of CO2, CO, and NOx. Comparing between the China V and VI vehicle, our PEMS data show significant carbon emission reduction benefits (15.9% in CO2, 28.8% in CO) as we move to the new China VI standard, although such benefit was not observed in NOx emissions.

An Agent-Based Model of Heterogeneous Driver Behaviour and Its Impact on Energy Consumption and Costs in Urban Space

By 2020, over 100 countries had expanded electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (EV/PHEV) technologies, with global sales surpassing 7 million units. Governments are adopting cleaner vehicle technologies due to the proven environmental and health implications of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), as evidenced by the recent COP26 meeting. This article proposes an agent-based model of vehicle activity as a tool for quantifying energy consumption by simulating a fleet of EV/PHEVs within an urban street network at various spatio-temporal resolutions. Driver behaviour plays a significant role in energy consumption; thus, simulating various levels of individual behaviour and enhancing heterogeneity should provide more accurate results of potential energy demand in cities. The study found that (1) energy consumption is lowest when speed limit adherence increases (low variance in behaviour) and is highest when acceleration/deceleration patterns vary (high variance in behaviour); (2) vehicles that travel for shorter distances while abiding by speed limit rules are more energy efficient compared to those that speed and travel for longer; and (3) on average, for tested vehicles, EV/PHEVs were £233.13 cheaper to run than ICEVs across all experiment conditions. The difference in the average fuel costs (electricity and petrol) shrinks at the vehicle level as driver behaviour is less varied (more homogeneous). This research should allow policymakers to quantify the demand for energy and subsequent fuel costs in cities.

Using the Sustainable Development Goals to Evaluate Possible Transport Policies for the City of Curitiba

Cities across the world are becoming more engaged in tackling climate change and contributing to the achievement of international agreements. The city of Curitiba in Brazil is no exception. In December 2020, the city published PlanClima (Plano Municipal de Mitigação e Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas), a climate plan developed with local and international organizations. PlanClima aims to guide policies and actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This study focuses on selecting and qualitatively evaluating transport policies that contribute to the city’s 2030 climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With PlanClima’s analysis for the transport sector in mind, nine targets for 2030 are identified and connected to different transport policies. To evaluate the possible interactions between the policies and the different dimensions of the SDGs, four types of linkages were designed: essential, uncertain, limited, and opposite. These categories were developed to evaluate the several dimensions in which a policy can have a positive or negative impact. The results show that the implementation of zero emission zones/low emission zones, green public procurement, subsidy schemes for the uptake of clean vehicle technology, and the digitalization of the transport system through smarter public transport and digital platforms that couple bike sharing, taxis, and public transport are some of the measures that can contribute to the achievement of Curitiba’s targets and ensure a positive impact on the sustainable development of the city. The study highlights how different policy instruments can contribute to achieve the city’s targets, thus providing guidance to policymakers.

Measuring Automotive Exhaust Particles Down to 10 nm

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The latest generation of internal combustion engines may emit significant levels of sub-23 nm particles. The main objective of the Horizon 2020 “DownToTen” project was to develop a robust methodology and provide policy recommendations towards the particle number (PN) emissions measurements in the sub-23 nm region. In order to achieve this target, a new portable exhaust particle sampling system (PEPS) was developed, being capable of measuring exhaust particles down to at least 10 nm under real-world conditions. The main design target was to build a system that is compatible with current PMP requirements and is characterized by minimized losses in the sub-23 nm region, high robustness against artefacts and high flexibility in terms of different PN modes investigation, i.e. non-volatile, volatile and secondary particles. This measurement setup was used for the evaluation of particle emissions from the latest technology engine and powertrain technologies (including vehicles from other Horizon 2020 projects), different fuel types, and a wide range of exhaust aftertreatment systems. Results revealed that in most cases (non-volatile), PN emissions down to 10 nm (SPN<sub>10</sub>) do not exceed the current SPN<sub>23</sub> limit of 6×10<sup>11</sup> p/km. However, there are some cases where SPN<sub>10</sub> emissions exceeded the limit, although SPN<sub>23</sub> were below that. An interesting finding was that even in the latter cases, the installation of a particle filter could significantly reduce PN emissions across a wide particle size range, fuels, and combustion technology. DownToTen results are being used to scientifically underpin the Euro 7/VII emission standard development in the EU. The method developed and the results obtained may be used to bring in the market clean and efficient vehicle technologies, improve engine and emission control performance with different fuels, and characterize size-fractionated particle chemistry to identify the formation mechanisms and control those in a targeted, cost-effective fashion.</div></div>

Cyclists' exposure to air pollution under different traffic management strategies

We characterized the air pollution exposure of cyclists in the city center of Curitiba (Brazil) and then systematically analyzed the influence of several traffic management strategies (bus lanes, bicycle lanes, traffic calming area, traffic lights, and cleaner vehicle technologies) on the exposure. We focused on concentrations of particulates monitored on-board bicycles: PM2.5, black carbon mass (BC) and particle number concentration (PNC), and also reported on total volatile organic compound concentrations (TVOC). Overall, mean (± standard deviation) exposure was moderate compared to other cities around the world (BC: 6.98 ± 11.53 μg m‐−3, PM2.5: 33.22 ± 25.64 μg m−3, PNC: 3.93 × 104 ± 4.17 × 104 cm−3, TVOC: 361 ± 99 ppb). Concentrations were higher in the morning rush hour than in the afternoon traffic peak, and exhibited a large spatial variability. Bus stops and signalized traffic intersections emerged as hotspots when compared to the rest of the journey, increasing all particulate concentrations. Lower exposure was found on streets with low traffic (particularly, small number of heavy-duty vehicles) and within shallow canyon structures. The impact of traffic calming areas on cyclists' exposure is still inconclusive and further experimental and modelling studies are needed. Simple emission calculations based on traffic activity and real-world emission factors suggested that replacing the diesel bus fleet with hybrid electric buses might largely decrease (64%) the exposure to BC in the city center. Urban planners could use this valuable information to project new cycleways, which would lead to healthier active transportation. Synchronizing traffic signals might further reduce exposure at intersections.

Which group should policies target? Effects of incentive policies and product cognitions for electric vehicle adoption among Chinese consumers

As a sustainable innovation in transport sector, electric vehicles (EVs) have shown great potential in reducing carbon emissions and pollution. Understanding the factors affecting consumers' adoption intentions of EVs is vital to the diffusion of EVs. This study aims to identify factors that can encourage consumers to adopt EVs from both internal and external perspectives. We examined three types of policies for EVs formulated by the Chinese government since 2010. Aiming to understand consumers' perceptions of these policies and their impacts on adoption intentions, a survey was sent to potential vehicle consumers in urban China. The survey asked respondents about their cognitions of EVs, including environmental performance and vehicle property, and their perceptions toward three types of incentive policies and their adoption intentions. Results show that consumers' adoption intentions of EVs are determined by product cognition toward EVs and perceptions of incentive policies. Respondents’ perceptions of policies are also diverse when grouped according to different demographic characteristics. Women, the elders, and those with lower income exhibit higher acceptance and interest in the policies than their counterparts. Our results are meaningful to policy makers and companies interested in targeting at certain groups and guiding consumers toward clean vehicle technologies.

A shift-share based tool for assessing the contribution of a modal shift to the decarbonisation of inland freight transport

Resulting from the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in 2015, the European Union’s (EU) current climate and energy objective is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and transportation must play a vital role in achieving this target. Decarbonization is therefore one of the main challenges for the freight transport sector in Europe. Several measures are suggested to contribute to this goal, including clean vehicle technologies, optimising networks and modal shift. This paper focuses on the latter measure; specifically, we reveal the value of shift-share analysis as a method for assessing a freight modal shift’s contribution to carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction. The shift-share method is in fact a decomposition analysis that originated in the field of regional economics. However, it can also be applied in other fields, including transport economics. We have exploited this method’s broad applicability to develop a tool that can evaluate how rail and inland waterway transport perform in terms of their contributions to CO2 emission reduction due to a modal shift. In demonstrating the tool, we analyse the market for freight transport that has the Netherlands as an origin, destination or both, thereby distinguishing between five distance markets. The goal of this paper is to present and show the value of the tool. The tool can provide policy makers with background information about the changes in CO2 emissions of a freight transport modal shift that occurred in the past, which in turn can be helpful in devising future transport policies. A particular strength of the tool is that it can be used on any spatial scale - countries, regions, corridors, etc. In addition, the data requirements and computing complexity of the shift-share method is low.

Energy consumption of solar hybrid 48V operated mini mobile cold storage

A global shift headed for a greener and low emissions will necessitate notable advancement in the way in which the energy is being produced and used in all logistics and transportation sector. The solar hybrid electric vehicles (SHEV) are on the peak of the list of choices available for eco-friendly and clean vehicle technologies for smart city transportation. Current cold chain vehicle consumes too much energy and cannot guarantee the perfect quality of food, which is against to the sustainable development of environment. Solar energy used in mobile mini cold storage vehicle as an auxiliary power source of on-board fuel has not been extensively investigated. SHEV setup has been constructed, and experimental verifications are presented that explicitly demonstrate utilizing the PV module adds 15-25 km to the cruising range of a HEV with the weight of 450 kg in a normal operation of the SHEV during one sunny days, and provides higher power efficiency (90.2%) and speed (24.96 km/h). SHEV mini cold storage was energy consumed 104 Wh/day at 21°C ambient temperature and its energy consumption increased with increasing ambient temperature.

Abating transport GHG emissions by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles: Chances for the developing world

Fuel cell vehicles, as the most promising clean vehicle technology for the future, represent the major chances for the developing world to avoid high-carbon lock-in in the transportation sector. In this paper, by taking China as an example, the unique advantages for China to deploy fuel cell vehicles are reviewed. Subsequently, this paper analyzes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 19 fuel cell vehicle utilization pathways by using the life cycle assessment approach. The results show that with the current grid mix in China, hydrogen from water electrolysis has the highest GHG emissions, at 3.10 kgCO2/km, while by-product hydrogen from the chlor-alkali industry has the lowest level, at 0.08 kgCO2/km. Regarding hydrogen storage and transportation, a combination of gas-hydrogen road transportation and single compression in the refueling station has the lowest GHG emissions. Regarding vehicle operation, GHG emissions from indirect methanol fuel cell are proved to be lower than those from direct hydrogen fuel cells. It is recommended that although fuel cell vehicles are promising for the developing world in reducing GHG emissions, the vehicle technology and hydrogen production issues should be well addressed to ensure the life-cycle low-carbon performance.

Modelling, Analysis and Performance Evaluation of Power Conversion Unit in G2V/V2G Application—A Review

In response to climate change, which is caused by the increasing pollution of the environment and leads to the deterioration of human health, future electricity generations should reduce reliance on fossil fuels by growing the use of clean and renewable energy generation sources and by using clean vehicle technologies. Battery storage systems have been recognized as one of the most promising approaches for supporting the renewable energy generation sources and cleanly powering vehicles instead of burning gasoline and diesel fuel. However, the cost of batteries is still a prominent barrier for their use in stationary and traction applications. As a rule, the cost of batteries can be decreased by lowering material costs, enhancing process efficiencies, and increasing production volume. Another more effective solution is called Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) application. In V2G application, the battery system can be used to support the grid services, whereas the battery is still in the vehicle. To make a battery system economically viable for V2G/G2V applications, an effective power-electronics converter should be selected as well. This converter should be supported by an advanced control strategy. Therefore, this article provides a detailed technical assessment and review of V2G/G2V concepts, in conjunction with various power-electronics converter topologies. In this paper, modeling and detailed control strategies are fully designed and investigated in terms of dynamic response and harmonics. Furthermore, an extensive design and analysis of charging systems for low-duty/high-duty vehicles are also presented.

South Shore Clean Cities – Increasing Environmental Benefits through Reduction

For nearly twenty years, Carl and Lorrie Lisek have been making the Lake Michigan Region a greener place. As entrepreneurs, they consciously work toward their mission of leaving the world a better place for their children. South Shore Clean Cities collaborates with a variety of programs and institutions to “revitalize Northern Indiana by promoting the use of clean fuels and clean vehicle technologies”. They strongly believe in improving air quality, developing economic opportunities and reducing the use of imported oil. As their success continues, South Shore Clean Cities has an opportunity to further its impact on the region and the globe.

Transformation of India's transport sector under global warming of 2 °C and 1.5 °C scenario

The Paris agreement stresses on concerted efforts to limit global temperature increase to 2 °C and make efforts towards achieving 1.5 °C temperature stabilization. Countries announced actions under the Nationally Determined Contributions outlining domestic mitigation actions to achieve the global target. Understanding the impact of these actions on achieving these ambitions requires an assessment of long term national level scenarios. Limited studies currently exist that model long term scenarios at national level addressing the impacts of Nationally Determined Contributions and the additional actions required, especially at the sectoral level. The paper compares four alternate future scenarios for India spanning till 2050, with a specific focus on the passenger and freight transportation. The analysis is performed using the ANSWER MARKAL model and complemented with methodologies to estimate transportation demand under strong decarbonisation pathways. The results show that 1.5 °C scenario would need immediate actions and deep transformations. Demand side actions would, in addition to infrastructure investments require transforming human behaviour through use of information technology, internet and sharing economy. Clean vehicle technologies need to play a much bigger role and fossil fuel dependence would be moderated with the dominance of electricity, hydrogen and biofuels. The higher share of electricity in transport is complimented with accelerated decarbonisation of electricity. This transformation required for 1.5 °C scenario calls for innovations that would be driven through national and sectoral policies and explicit carbon prices.

Impact of recycling on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from electric vehicle production: The China 2025 case

Electric vehicle, as the most promising clean vehicle technology, has gained high priority in global transport technology roadmap. Although electric vehicles offer multiple benefits within the vehicle use phase, their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions within the vehicle production phase are much higher than conventional vehicles. Recycling is considered as an effective way to tackle this issue. By employing a life cycle assessment framework, this study compares the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from electric vehicle production under the circumstances of no recycling and full recycling. Database is established based on the China 2025 case, where a large number of electric vehicles are expected to reach their end of life in the years to come. The results indicate that greenhouse gas emissions from electric vehicle production with and without recycling are 9.8t CO2eq. and 14.9t CO2eq., implying a 34% reduction through recycling. Specifically, the recycling of steel, aluminum and the cathode material of traction battery, among others, contribute to 61%, 13% and 20% of total reduction, respectively. Although the recycling of conventional vehicle components currently contributes the most to the overall reduction, the recycling of battery has a huge growth potential in the future. Based on the analysis, it is recommended that China should prioritize the recycling of electric vehicles, especially the batteries, to realize the cleaner production of electric vehicles.

Equilibrium and first-best city with endogenous exposure to local air pollution from traffic

Exposure to urban traffic-induced air pollution is a major health concern of cities. This paper analyzes the urban structure when localized pollution exposure arises from commuting traffic and investigates the feedback effect of endogenous pollution on residential choices. The presence of stronger traffic-induced air pollution exposure reduces the geographical extent and the population of cities. Land rents fall with distance from the city center while population densities may be non-monotonic. Cleaner vehicle technologies reduce pollution exposure everywhere, increase population and density everywhere and do not affect the spatial extent of the city. The paper compares the urban equilibrium with the first-best. The first-best structure is a less expanded city with higher densities at the center and lower densities at the fringe.

Electric vehicles and India's low carbon passenger transport: a long-term co-benefits assessment

Electric vehicles have attracted the attention of India's policy makers as clean technology alternatives due to their multiple advantages like higher efficiency and lower air pollution in short to medium term and reduced CO2 emissions as electricity gets decarbonized in the long-run under low carbon scenarios. This paper uses an energy system model ANSWER-MARKAL to analyse the role of electric vehicles (EV) in India. The modelling assessment spans the period 2010 to 2050 and analyses future EV demand in India under three scenarios: i) a ‘Reference’ scenario which includes the continuation of existing EV policies as outlined in India's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC); ii) a ‘EV policy’ scenario which, in line with India's INDCs, follows targeted supply-side push policies for EVs, but without the budget constraints; and iii) a ‘low carbon’ scenario which uses an exogenous price for CO2 in line with the global target of 2 °C temperature stabilization. The scenarios analysis delineates penetration of EVs and their co-benefits as well as co-costs. The co-benefits relate to local air quality, national energy security and CO2 emissions in India whereas the co-costs (risks) are related to sourcing of raw materials for batteries and battery reprocessing and disposal.The findings show that: i) in the reference scenario, the EVs 2-wheelers will achieve a significant share by 2050. Electric 4-wheelers though would have a small share even in 2050; ii) EV push policies though lead to significant diffusion of electric 2- wheelers in India by 2030. These policies enhance diffusion of electric 4-wheelers only if financial incentives are sustained in the long-term, iii) the application of global carbon price on the Indian economy in the 2° C stabilization scenario increases competitiveness of EVs and results in near total share of electric 2-wheelers by 2030 and a sizable share of electric 4-wheelers by 2050. The high and rising carbon price in low carbon scenario cause deep decarbonisation of electricity and enables EVs to deliver deep cut in CO2 emissions. The results show asymmetry in the impacts of national and global policies on co-benefits from EV. The EV supply-push policies deliver moderate benefits vis-à-vis air pollution and energy security indicators but make insignificant contribution CO2 emissions reduction. On the other hand, the global carbon price in the global 2° C stabilization scenario delivers sizable co-benefits vis-à-vis all three indicators. This asymmetry reveal important policy insights: i) the policy sequencing is vital to gain co-benefits, ii) EV technology push policies are good for creating early domestic market for a clean vehicle technology but they may not deliver sizable co-benefits vis-à-vis CO2 emissions which are global externalities, and iii) implementing strong climate policies early would lead to EVs delivering high co-benefits, in case of India, vis-à-vis all three indicators.

A06 San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Analysis

BackgroundVarious policies have been implemented to deal with the air pollution generated by freight operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (also known as the San Pedro Bay Ports), including adopting cleaner vehicle technologies (such as the Clean Trucks Program in Southern California), mandating cleaner fuels, shifting container transport from trucks to trains for long distance travel, or shifting freight deliveries from peak to off-peak hours. The purpose of this study is to analyze the co-benefits of some of these policies on the reduction of greenhouse gases and regional pollutants, particularly as expressed through positive impacts on human health. MethodsPort-related emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter are drawn from the Ports’ annual Inventory of Air Emissions. Hourly factors are applied to the daily mean emission rate based on temporal truck distributions in the Ports, allowing the pollutants to be dispersed throughout the surrounding area using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s puff dispersion model, CALPUFF. The resulting pollutant concentrations are compared between milestone years for the programs and a baseline year, 2005, using EPA’s BenMAP health analysis model. ResultsWe find that the Clean Trucks program has successfully cut heavy duty vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxides by around 80% between 2005 and 2012, and particulate matter levels have been reduced by over 90%. This has resulted in net savings related to cardiovascular and respiratory impacts of over $13 million, including dozens of cases of averted hospital admission incidences. Ongoing analyses suggest that additional Ports programs have also contributed to lowered pollutant levels being emitted by other modes of freight transportation. ConclusionsThe success of the Clean Trucks Program indicates that the initiatives taken by the Ports through their Clean Air Action Plan have been able to improve the quality of life of citizens exposed to pollution from the Ports. However, previous works suggest that these impacts are small compared to those of port-related truck and train operations on land, outside of the San Pedro Bay Ports complex.

Exploring transport carbon futures using population microsimulation and travel diaries: Beijing to 2030

Evaluating transport policy for cities in developing countries is often constrained by data availability that limits the use of conventional appraisal models. Here, we present a new ‘bottom-up’ methodology to estimate transport CO2 emission from daily urban passenger travel for Beijing, a megacity with relatively sparse data on travel behaviour. A spatial microsimulation, based on an activity diary survey and two sample population censuses, is used to simulate, for Beijing’s urban districts, a realistic synthetic population, and their daily travel and CO2 emission over 2000–2010. This approach provides greater insight into the spatial variability of transport CO2 emission than has previously been possible for Beijing, and further, enables an examination of the role of socio-demographics, urban form and transport developments in contributing to emissions over the modelled period.Using the 2000–2010 CO2 emission estimates as a baseline, CO2 emissions from passenger travel are then modelled to 2030 under scenarios exploring politically plausible strategies on transport (public transport infrastructure investment, and vehicle constraint), urban development (compaction) and vehicle technology (faster adoption of clean vehicle technology). The results showed that, compared to the trend scenario, employing both transport and urban development policies could reduce total passenger CO2 emission to 2030 by 24%, and by 43% if all strategies were applied together. The study reveals the potential of microsimulation in emission estimation for large cities in developing countries where data availability may constrain more traditional approaches.

R&D ekes out an increase in FY 2015 budget request

With spending caps in place, President Obama proposes an off-budget fund to support additional R&D. NASA would ground a flying observatory, and DOE would sharply curtail its nonproliferation programs.

Strategic niche management from a business perspective: taking cleaner vehicle technologies from prototype to series production

Strategic niche management has been outlined as a policy approach to assist development and diffusion of cleaner new technologies. Based on a case study describing the efforts of a leading actor in the heavy vehicle industry to develop and commercially introduce hybrid-electric vehicles, this paper discusses strategic niche management from the perspective of the manufacturing firm. In particular, the paper analyses experiences from extensive field tests executed in London, tests which involved a number of different manufacturers, hybrid systems and vehicles. The scale of this technological niche added confidence and credibility to the technology and helped opening up an important niche market, which was supported by an extensive subsidy scheme. The analysis shows how the field tests and the subsidies jointly functioned as bridging policies that facilitated an important step in the market formation process. The analysis further points at a critical tension between niches and the volume-oriented business of a major vehicle manufacturer, showing how investments in new technology need to be warranted in market trends and projections of future sales and production volumes to become accepted within a vehicle manufacturer's organization.