Physical and Behavioural Determinants of Resilience in the Transportation System: A Case Study of Vehicle Electrification and Trip Prioritization
The coupling of transportation and electrical grid infrastructures through plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) offers the potential to improve system resilience by diversifying energy supply. In addition, adaptive behavioural responses can mitigate the effects of a disruption. This paper examines vehicle electrification and trip prioritisation as physical and behavioural determinants of transportation system resilience during a gasoline supply disruption using National Household Travel Survey data. Realised travel factor, the ratio of completed to demanded travel, is defined as an indicator of resilience. Simulations using the overall population indicate trip prioritisation improves resilience more than PEV adoption at lower levels of electrification (below 20 mile electric range), although household-level results vary according to fleet size and travel demand. While 67% of households require no adaptive change during a five-day disruption, additional households are able to complete all high-priority trips through trip prioritisation (+12%), PEV adoption (/14%), or a combination of both (+23%).