Measuring the inconvenience of operating an alternative fuel vehicle

• Determines inconvenience barriers to alternative fuel vehicle adoption.
• Provides policy guidelines for incubating minimal AFV service provisions.
• Identifies possible travel pattern changes when operating an AFV.

The work measures individual-level inconvenience of operating an alternative fuel vehicle. We develop simulations of vehicle usage patterns reported in the California Statewide Household Travel Survey. A key assumption is that people do not change the activities associated with their current conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, but may change their travel to perform these activities. More specifically, scenarios involving completion of respondents’ stated activities based on behavioral assumptions associated with refueling and recharging are tested. Assuming a value of time of $30/h is applied to the travel-related components of a previously calibrated utility function, we find that with limited initial-stage fuel infrastructure, operating a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle imposes an average “inconvenience” time cost of $22–$39 for the day refueling is needed. For cumulative daily trips over 60 miles, operating a battery electric vehicle imposes an average additional time cost of $47–$50 with AC Level 1 charging infrastructure, and $6–$10 with AC Level 2 infrastructure.