Travel pattern variation effects on utility factor after COVID-19: an empirical case

Carbon emission is largely reduced during the COVID-19 due to the lockdown. However, the accurate impact in the personal transport sector after the epidemic is still not clear. To accurately measure the travel pattern variation effects on utility factor of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV s) due to COVID-19, travel pattern, charging pattern, and utility factors (UF) are compared in a typical city based on actual travel data before and after the pandemic. The result shows that the number of trips and the daily vehicle kilometers travelled decreased significantly during the pandemic while the average daily travel mileage increased quickly after the pandemic and is only 9% lower than that before the pandemic. Some consumers even travel longer with personal vehicles to avoid possible health risks from public transportation. The electricity utility factor after the pandemic is 0.022 larger compared to that before the pandemic due to the variation of travel patterns, a 60-km-range PHEV has a pre-pandemic standard UF of 0.745 and a post-pandemic standard UF of 0.767. Besides, the actual UF is 15% smaller compared to the standard UF due to the actual charging frequency in reality.