The household and commercial vehicle survey data are used to update the light-duty vehicle choice models. These models are used to generate light duty vehicle demand forecasts and provide understanding about such questions as:

  • How many light duty cars and trucks will be on California roads?
  • How much and what kind of fuels will they use?
  • Does California transportation energy infrastructure meet the future needs in California?

In addition to the main survey of California vehicle owners, the 2017 survey included an add-on survey of Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) owners and the 2019 survey included an add-on survey of Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) owners, in both household and commercial light duty vehicle market segments.

The 2019 survey had over 6,000 household and commercial survey respondents, including over 700 PEV owners and 300 FCEV owners.

The information will help planners, energy suppliers, and policy makers anticipate the changing needs of California vehicle owners.

Accessing the Complete Survey Data

The 2013, 2017 and 2019 survey data are at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC). Create a free account to access the data.

The data include information on the participants’ current household and commercial light duty vehicles and their preferences for a hypothetical set of vehicles. The data also includes limited information on travel behavior.


Respondent Profile

The full breakdown of the survey responses was as follows. Note that many respondents reported results for multiple vehicles:

Respondents PEV Owners FCEV Owners Non-ZEV Owners Total Respondents
Household 489 304 3,381 4,136
Commercial 265 11 2,027 2,303
Vehicles PEV FCEV Non-ZEV Total
Household 553 306 7,109 8,049
Commercial 323 13 4,989 5,325

Accessing Survey Reports

Resources Systems Group prepared the technical reports for the 2017 California Vehicle Survey for the Energy Commission. The first report is on survey design and light duty vehicle choice models. The second report includes design details and additional models. 

Contact

California Vehicle Survey
CAVehicleSurvey@energy.ca.gov

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