PIER Transportation Research
Research Focus Areas
Transportation Energy Research - Transportation Systems
The majority of California's greenhouse gas emissions are the result of infrastructure and development decisions. To meet its energy and climate change goals, California's land use planning and infrastructure investments must place a high priority on improving the energy efficiency of the state's transportation systems.
The Transportation Systems focus area conducts research to develop tools, methods, data, and insights to mitigate the energy impacts of land use decisions and infrastructure investments. Emphasizing a systems approach, research is conducted across four broad topics: Sustainable Communities, Electric Fuel, Goods Movement, and Mass Transit. To date research has been conducted in the Sustainable Communities and Electric Fuel topics.
Sustainable Communities
Sustainable Communities research is conducted within the emerging field of urban metabolism. This research supports the integrated land use planning efforts of regional and local agencies with an emphasis on:
- Advancing methods to measure and monitor the system-wide impacts of land use decisions.
- Developing data-driven planning tools and case studies to help regional and local agencies design, test, and implement new policies.
- Assessing institutional barriers and policy drivers to energy efficient community development and land use strategies
To date the Transportation Systems focus area has:
- Initiated research to estimate the life-cycle energy impacts of public transit infrastructure investments.
- Partnered with the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability to develop and map baseline energy and sustainability data for Los Angeles County.
- Conducted research to estimate potential fuel savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions from transportation and land use strategies.
- Established the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA.
Electric Fuel
Using electricity as a transportation fuel (electric fuel) can provide significant benefits to California including improved energy security, improved environmental and public health quality, and reduced fueling costs. The Transportation Systems focus area conducts research to help California prepare for and incent the commercialization of electric fuel with an emphasis on:
- Reducing and restructuring the high cost of electric vehicle batteries through second-life applications.
- Integrating electric vehicle charging with smart grid technologies.
- Determining the system utilization impacts of electric fuel on the grid.
To date the Transportation Systems focus area has:
- Partnered with the Transportation Sustainability Research Center to develop and analyze strategies for electric fuel implementation in California.
- Conducted research to compare the costs and benefits of vehicle-to-grid and battery-to-grid systems.
- Partnered with the PH&EV Research Center, California Center for Sustainable Energy, and San Diego Gas & Electric to evaluate second-life home energy storage applications for electric vehicle batteries.
See Final Reports and Publications
See Fact Sheets for ongoing and recent projects
Research Highlights
- The U.S. Department of Energy leverages a PIER-funded study on the repurposing of used electric vehicle batteries for home energy storage.
- UCLA researchers' presentation on PIER-funded research projects to the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability.