Using Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey Data to Indicate Electric Vehicle Market Potential in Rural Areas

Abstract

The 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey included 10,381 rural households, that is, households that were not in metropolitan statistical areas and were in zip code areas with population densities of less than 386 persons/km² (1,000 persons/mi²). An analysis of the survey data to determine how rural households use their household (nonfarm) vehicles and to describe the potential for some vehicles to be electric vehicles (EVs) is reported. A main step in the analysis is to aggregate the daily household trips by vehicle. The counterintuitive result is that rural household vehicle use in terms of kilometers per day is quite similar to that of metropolitan area households. Thus, the potential for rural households to acquire EVs is similar to that for metropolitan area households.