The adverse impact of electric vehicles on traffic congestion in the morning commute

Journal article, 2021

Many governments around the world are striving to promote the development of EVs for EV's sustainability and efficiency. However, EVs may induce extra traffic congestion in the morning commute. To illustrate this point, we incorporate the vehicle's energy consumption (EC) into the classical morning commute model to explore the EV's influence on the morning commute. First, we study the impact of the vehicle's EC on the waiting time in the user equilibrium (UE) state. Second, the properties of commuter's waiting time in the traffic system with EVs and gasoline vehicles (GVs) are analyzed. Finally, two interventions are proposed to alleviate the extra traffic congestion caused by EVs. The analytical and numerical results of this study reveal that i) EVs will induce extra traffic congestion, and ii) we can apply some interventions to alleviate the side effect of EVs and reap more benefits from EVs. The conclusions indicate that some interventions should be conducted when EVs enter the traffic system, which sheds light on the policymaking for the promotion of EVs.