CHAPTER 12
Motorized Vehicles: Demand Management and Technology Shomik Mehndiratta, Zhi Liu, and Ke Fang
Overview This chapter presents options to directly address the emissions from motorized vehicles in China’s cities. Previous chapters have laid out issues related to the built environment that facilitates urban trips, and discussed options to improve the quality of alternatives to motorized modes of transport. While these strategies are critical, it is inevitable that as urbanization continues and incomes rise, the number of motorized vehicles in China’s cities and the demand for urban transport will continue to increase. Indeed, as illustrated in earlier chapters, while cars account for a minority of trips in Chinese cities (figure 12.1), most of the transportrelated carbon emissions in China’s urban areas are generated by motorized passenger transport. Figure 12.2 illustrates that private cars have the largest transport-related carbon emissions per capita. The most direct approach to reduce these emissions is by restricting the amount of travel on these modes. A related possibility is the adoption of technologies that reduce the unit emissions from motorized travel. This group of actions— related to managing demand and technology adoption—is the focus of this chapter. 299