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US COVID-19 mitigation efforts resulting in significant decline in traffic, emissions and fuel-tax revenues

Green Car Congress

A new report from the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis has found that total US vehicle miles traveled (VMT) at the county and state level have declined by 61% to 90% following the various government stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fuel use dropped from 4.6 billion per week.

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UC Davis study: roadkill declines as COVID-19 continues

Green Car Congress

Fewer wild animals, including threatened mountain lions, are becoming roadkill during shelter-in-place orders, according to a study on three states from the University of California, Davis. Traffic on all roads—not just state highways—in California decreased 71% during the study period. Before stay-at-home orders, 8.4

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UC Davis report proposes mileage fee for EVs, maintaining fuel tax for ICEs to support road repairs

Green Car Congress

A research report submitted to the California Legislature this week by the University of California, Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies proposes switching EVs to a mileage-based road-funding fee (road user charge, RUC) while continuing to have gasoline-powered cars pay gasoline taxes.

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Study finds higher gasoline taxes do not disproportionately impact the poor, especially in developing countries

Green Car Congress

However, a new study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) finds that middle- and high-income earners are generally affected the most by gasoline taxes, especially in poor countries, rather than poor people. —Thomas Sterner, Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Gothenburg.

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Study finds behavior-influencing policies remain critical for mass market success of low-carbon vehicles

Green Car Congress

Policies to entice consumers away from fossil-fuel powered vehicles and normalize low carbon, alternative-fuel alternatives, such as electric vehicles, are vital if the world is to significantly reduce transport sector carbon pure-emissions, according to a new study. —David McCollum.

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Initial results of 2-year US field study on Mileage-Based Road User Charge

Green Car Congress

Researchers from the University of Iowa report the initial results of a 2-year field study evaluating the technical feasibility and user acceptance of mileage-based charging as a potential replacement for the current motor fuel tax in a paper in Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.

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Study finds that increased vehicle travel and decreased occupancy have undercut the impact of improving fuel economy over last 40 years

Green Car Congress

As a consequence of the changes in vehicle fuel economy, vehicle distance travelled, and vehicle load, the total amount of fuel used increased by 53% (from 303 to 463 billion liters). occupants, vehicle distance travelled would be reduced by about 15%, while vehicle fuel economy would worsen by about 1%. —Sivak 2013.