Design And Research On Personal Electric Vehicle For Urban Commuting

An abstract of a dissertation is a summary and extraction of research work andcontributions. Included in an abstract should be description of research topic and resUrban commuting is and will always be a main topic of urban life. Especially withthe pace of urbanization, the trend of people living and working at different places ismore and more obvious, also the commuting distance and commuting time are bothgetting longer. The disappointing reality makes people want to improve theircommuting experience, hence they can get a better life, meanwhile researches on thistopic seams much more important. On the other hand, with the harsh situation about ourpolluted environment and limited energy sources, all industries especially theautomobile industry should find a sustainable developing path. Now China is theworld’s first automobile production and marketing power, also the first carbonemissions power. That makes us has no other choices but lead the way in a cleanautomobile industry. Can electric vehicles (EV) help solving the traffic problems andimproving the commuting situation? This thesis, motivated by helping people finding areasonable commuting way, is related to urban commuting and electric vehicles.At first, I got an overall understanding of the commuting situation by making asurvey of Beijing. Then, I use the method of relevance matrix to explore how we canjudge a commuting method and discuss why we could choose an EV as a commutingvehicle, also the relationship between demand of commuting and the development ofEV. Above all, I propose my design idea of personal electric vehicle for urbancommuting. During the whole process, I used several research methods, such asliterature studies, questionnaires, interviews, different design methods, and so on.The main conclusion of this thesis is: People still need an advanced personalcommuting vehicle and EVs can be the solution.The main achievement and contribution of this thesis is: Proposing an idea ofpersonal electric vehicle for urban commuting and a specific design proposal.