Search results

Concern about increasing fuel prices and levels of environmental pollution is forcing firms to improve the fuel efficiency of their transport operations. Assesses the extent to which British road hauliers have implemented a range of fuel‐saving measures and examines their general attitudes to fuel utilization. Good vehicle maintenance and driver training are believed to offer the greatest potential, with improved aerodynamics and vehicle replacement policy also considered important. Operators are sceptical, however, about the value of speed limiters and driver incentive schemes. Outlines the experience of a distribution contractor who has implemented a broadly‐based fuel conservation programme. Overall, the research highlights the importance of managerial initiatives, particularly in the areas of driver monitoring and training, and the need to develop a well co‐ordinated package of fuel efficiency measures.

Automakers are engaged in manufacturing both efficient and inefficient green cars. The purpose of this paper is to categorize efficient green cars and inefficient green cars followed by improving efficiencies of identified inefficient green cars for distribution fitting.

The authors have used 2014 edition of secondary data published by the Automotive Research Centre of the Automobile Club of Southern California. The paper provides the methodology of applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) consisting of 50 decision-making units (DMUs) of green cars with six input indices (emission, braking, ride quality, acceleration, turning circle, and luggage capacity) and two output indices (miles per gallon and torque) integrated with Monte Carlo simulation for drawing significant statistical inferences graphically.

The findings of this study showed that there are 27 efficient and 23 inefficient DMUs along with improvement matrix. Additionally, the study highlighted the best distribution fitting of improved efficient green cars for respective indices.

This study suffers from limitations associated with 2014 edition of secondary data used in this research.

This study may be useful for motorists with efficient listing of green cars, whereas automakers can be benefitted with distribution fitting of improved efficient green cars using Monte Carlo simulation for calibration.

The paper uses DEA to empirically examine classification of green cars and applies Monte Carlo simulation for distribution fitting to improved efficient green cars to decide appropriate range of their attributes for calibration.

The declared aim of this paper is to explore the possible effects of the need for energy conservation (and in particular the need for economy in the use of oil‐based fuels) on road vehicle development in the UK over the next few decades. In the absence of the author, his colleague, R J Francis, also of Harwell, presented this paper at the conference held by the Institute of Management Services in London, September 1980. He stressed the fact that the views here are those of ETSU, and may not necessarily be regarded in any way as “government policy”. ETSU is the Energy Technology Support Unit, which is based at Harwell, and was established in 1974 to formulate and manage research, development and demonstration programmes in the technology of renewable energy sources and conservation under contract to the Department of Energy. There are approximately 45 professional staff at ETSU (mainly scientists and engineers) working in three main areas: strategic planning of research and development, management of R&D on the renewable energy sources, and research, development and demonstration in energy conservation. When introducing this paper, Richard Francis said that it set out to establish the need for conservation in general, as well as to explain how this is to be achieved in practice. This subject, he commented, leads on to the special task of improving fuel economy and achieving wider fuel flexibility within road transport, which itself has wide implications for road vehicle technology. This paper reviews all the more realistic alternatives, and then attempts to identify those which seem most promising and also to quantify the impact they might have in reducing our dependence on oil‐based fuels.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an assessment of the effects of fuel efficiency improvements on four‐wheeler ownership, fuel consumption, fuel imports and emissions for personal transportation in the context of India. The paper also aims to measure the rebound effect induced by this policy.

The paper relies on a system dynamics model to analyse the problem. A causal loop model was developed initially, which was transformed to a stock and flow diagram. Simulation was carried out to capture the effects of fuel efficiency improvements in the four‐wheeler sector of India.

The study has revealed that a policy of fuel efficiency improvements is favourable to the Indian four‐wheeler sector growth, but this policy could result in an increase in fuel consumption and therefore a corresponding increase in the fuel imports and emissions in the country. This policy also induces direct rebound effect that adds up to the already alarming fuel consumption levels.

The study is limited to four‐wheeler passenger cars in India and gasoline as the transport fuel.

The paper offers a system dynamics model that can aid the government, vehicle manufacturers, and environment protection groups to further analyse policies regarding fuel efficiency improvements, fuel price adjustments, four‐wheeler ownership, energy consumption and emission, and to obtain some useful policy insights before those policies are implemented.

The car industry is one of the largest in the world, employing many people and playing a major role in many economies. The number of cars has grown and is likely to continue to increase, particularly in the developing world. The car is one of the most wanted consumer products but it has major impacts on the environment and human health. It is generally assumed that present trends will continue but there are a number of factors that could disturb the “surprise‐free” future. Europe's policy makers face a series of difficult challenges in seeking to balance our love affair with the car against its wider consequences.

Since its introduction in South Africa during 2009, the ability of vehicle emissions tax to reduce CO₂ emissions has been questioned, but not yet assessed. The purpose of this paper is to attempt such an assessment by considering tax designs to reduce passenger vehicle CO₂ emissions.

In this exploratory study, the authors reviewed literature on tax designs to reduce CO₂ emissions, and compared the design of current taxes on passenger vehicles in South Africa to the tax designs most advocated in the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of the current South African design for this purpose.

Tax designs refer to the stage when taxes are levied (purchase/ownership/usage taxes) – levying taxes at one stage may more effectively reduce emissions than levying them at another. The current tax focus on consumers may indeed affect taxes' ability to reduce emissions, and in the current tax mix, taxes on passenger vehicles may not be the most effective way of reducing emissions. The investigation of a “feebate” policy as an alternative initiative to address increased passenger vehicle CO₂ emissions is recommended.

Only anecdotal evidence questions the ability of the vehicle emissions tax to reduce CO₂ emissions. This study is intended to elicit further discussions on other fiscal reform initiatives aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions by passenger vehicles in South Africa.

This study aims to identify and prioritize various growth-accelerating factors in the Indian automotive industry. It further develops a hierarchical model to examine the mutual interactions between the factors, their dependence and their driving power.

This study first identifies the growth-accelerating factors and then uses the modified total interpretive structural modeling (m-TISM) framework, which is an extended version of TISM. It further uses MICMAC analysis to analyze the mutual interrelation between the identified factors.

This study highlights the interrelation amongst the factors using m-TISM model. A hierarchical model shows the level of autonomous, dependence, linkage and independent factors considering the Indian automotive industry. This study also provides the understanding related to the interdependence of growth-accelerating factors.

The government and practitioners could evaluate the growth-accelerating factors which have higher driving power for implementing efficient policies and strategy formulation. By implementing m-TISM model in the Indian automotive industry, auto manufacturers can become more productive and profitable. Future studies could use other methods such as expert opinion to derive the factors, and further model could be verified using structural equation modeling technique.

This study uses a novel m-TISM framework for the analysis of growth-accelerating factors in the context of the Indian automotive industry. It further provides a detailed theoretical and conceptual understanding relating to the philosophy and establishes an interrelation amongst these under-researched growth-accelerating factors.