Environmental impact analysis of on-demand urban air mobility: A case study of the Tampa Bay Area

Pengli Zhao; Joseph Post; Zhiqiang Wu; Wenbo Du; Yu Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2022.103438

Environmental impact analysis of on-demand urban air mobility: A case study of the Tampa Bay Area

Pengli Zhao
, Joseph Post
, Zhiqiang Wu
, Wenbo Du
, Yu Zhang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Electronic and Information Engineering

University of South Florida

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) uses electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles to provide an alternative way of transporting passengers in urban areas. This study proposes a method of comparing air pollutant emissions from using ground transportation versus switching to multimodal UAM, including greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (NO_x, SO₂, PM_2.5). A study by Wu and Zhang (2021) addressed planning questions regarding the optimal placement of vertiports and estimated diverted demand from ground transportation modes by combining network design and travel mode choice models. The proposed method is applied to the case study of Tampa Bay region. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to further evaluate the impacts. The study reveals that on-demand UAM (considering vertiport access and egress modes) generates more greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (except NO_x) in the case study region compared to ground transportation modes. The emissions depend on the structure of power production. A lower UAM service price and more vertiports will further increase emissions.

Original language	English
Article number	103438
Journal	Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
Volume	110
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2022.103438
State	Published - Sep 2022

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Keywords

Advanced air mobility
Air pollutant emissions
High density operation of UAM
Sensitivity analysis

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10.1016/j.trd.2022.103438

Cite this

@article{15eadb31c39f430f9a3b6bf67249f17a,

title = "Environmental impact analysis of on-demand urban air mobility: A case study of the Tampa Bay Area",

abstract = "Urban Air Mobility (UAM) uses electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles to provide an alternative way of transporting passengers in urban areas. This study proposes a method of comparing air pollutant emissions from using ground transportation versus switching to multimodal UAM, including greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (NOx, SO2, PM2.5). A study by Wu and Zhang (2021) addressed planning questions regarding the optimal placement of vertiports and estimated diverted demand from ground transportation modes by combining network design and travel mode choice models. The proposed method is applied to the case study of Tampa Bay region. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to further evaluate the impacts. The study reveals that on-demand UAM (considering vertiport access and egress modes) generates more greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (except NOx) in the case study region compared to ground transportation modes. The emissions depend on the structure of power production. A lower UAM service price and more vertiports will further increase emissions.",

keywords = "Advanced air mobility, Air pollutant emissions, High density operation of UAM, Sensitivity analysis",

author = "Pengli Zhao and Joseph Post and Zhiqiang Wu and Wenbo Du and Yu Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2022",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1016/j.trd.2022.103438",

language = "英语",

volume = "110",

journal = "Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment",

issn = "1361-9209",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental impact analysis of on-demand urban air mobility

T2 - A case study of the Tampa Bay Area

AU - Zhao, Pengli

AU - Post, Joseph

AU - Wu, Zhiqiang

AU - Du, Wenbo

AU - Zhang, Yu

PY - 2022/9

Y1 - 2022/9

N2 - Urban Air Mobility (UAM) uses electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles to provide an alternative way of transporting passengers in urban areas. This study proposes a method of comparing air pollutant emissions from using ground transportation versus switching to multimodal UAM, including greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (NOx, SO2, PM2.5). A study by Wu and Zhang (2021) addressed planning questions regarding the optimal placement of vertiports and estimated diverted demand from ground transportation modes by combining network design and travel mode choice models. The proposed method is applied to the case study of Tampa Bay region. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to further evaluate the impacts. The study reveals that on-demand UAM (considering vertiport access and egress modes) generates more greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (except NOx) in the case study region compared to ground transportation modes. The emissions depend on the structure of power production. A lower UAM service price and more vertiports will further increase emissions.

AB - Urban Air Mobility (UAM) uses electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles to provide an alternative way of transporting passengers in urban areas. This study proposes a method of comparing air pollutant emissions from using ground transportation versus switching to multimodal UAM, including greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (NOx, SO2, PM2.5). A study by Wu and Zhang (2021) addressed planning questions regarding the optimal placement of vertiports and estimated diverted demand from ground transportation modes by combining network design and travel mode choice models. The proposed method is applied to the case study of Tampa Bay region. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to further evaluate the impacts. The study reveals that on-demand UAM (considering vertiport access and egress modes) generates more greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (except NOx) in the case study region compared to ground transportation modes. The emissions depend on the structure of power production. A lower UAM service price and more vertiports will further increase emissions.

KW - Advanced air mobility

KW - Air pollutant emissions

KW - High density operation of UAM

KW - Sensitivity analysis

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85136584054

U2 - 10.1016/j.trd.2022.103438

DO - 10.1016/j.trd.2022.103438

M3 - 文章

AN - SCOPUS:85136584054

SN - 1361-9209

VL - 110

JO - Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

JF - Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

M1 - 103438

ER -

Environmental impact analysis of on-demand urban air mobility: A case study of the Tampa Bay Area

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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