Mode choice analysis in urban transport with shared battery electric vehicles: a stated-preference case study in Beijing, China

In recent years, with promotion of the sharing economy, one-way carsharing has received increasing attention. With the technology advances in battery electric vehicles, owing to their zero emissions, an increasing number of carsharing companies are replacing their fleets with battery electric vehicles. This paper provides insights into the mode choice mechanism of travelers when battery electric vehicle sharing is incorporated in an urban transport system. A nested logit model is developed to jointly analyze the mode choice and route-vehicle choice under various trip scenarios. The impacts of the level-of-service variables including the access distance and remaining range are investigated. The results show that battery electric vehicle sharing can serve as a substitute for taxis in long-distance trips. Further, the access distance to a shared battery electric vehicle has a more significant impact on the mode choice of a traveler, which is 1.78 times that of the impact of the egress distance in the utility function. It is also found that when the trip distance increases, a traveler tends to become more tolerant to the access distance and requires a longer remaining range of vehicles.