Panel Paper:
The Impact of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes Access on Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Adoption: Evidence from U.S. States
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Furong Chen (Georgetown University, MPP), Jiaxu Cheng (Tsinghua University, P.h.D)
The Hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles can be an important measure to solve the environmental problems triggered by gasoline-powered vehicles. However, there are many barriers to the adoption of hybrid vehicles by the public such as high purchasing and maintenance cost. Thus, some state governments have tried to encourage sales by allowing hybrid vehicles with only one person to drive in High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.
This study tries to explore the impact of allowing single driver access to HOV lane access on hybrid vehicle ownership.
Previous studies on this topic have found mixed results concerning the effectiveness of this policy. HOV access policies do increase EV adoption (Vergis and Chen 2014), but are less effective than monetary incentives (Potoglou and Kanaroglou 2007) and can be an inefficient use of public resources. It can also lead to net welfare loss and harm the value of space in HOV lane (Shewmake and Jarvis 2014)
This study adds primarily to the literature described above by using the 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Data provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Few empirical analyses use the NHTS data set to examine the interaction between HOV lane access and hybrid electric vehicle adoption. Furthermore, the primary studies examined the determinants of hybrid electric vehicle adoption without considering the self-selection of individuals into vehicle ownership. In this study, the selection problem will be addressed by using the Heckman two-step procedure. Specifically, this study will be looking at the individual characteristics, travel patterns, and government incentives, in order to show the effect of HOV lane access.
This study argues that the policy allowing single driver access to HOV lane is correlated to more hybrid vehicle ownership. The results from this study will illustrate the importance of thinking comprehensively while making policies that have broad influence. Also, this topic has a high profile in public awareness because it exerts an important impact on both vehicle consumption and citizens’ travel pattern. In conclusion, this project, by closely examining the 2009 NHTS data, sheds new light on the effect of HOV lane access on hybrid vehicle adoption.
