This dissertation is part of requirement for the completion of the Master of Commerce in Marketing within the School of Economic and Business Science, January 2017 / The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors that influence young consumer’s acceptance of electronic cars in South Africa. A modified technology acceptance model was adopted in order to develop the research conceptual model that was used to test hypothesised relationships. The research examined the effect that perceived usefulness has on perceived trust and value. Further the relationship that potentially existed between perceived value and trust was also assessed. Lastly the effect of perceived trust, value and risk on the intention to potentially use electric cars was examined. The study was quantitative in nature whereby 380 surveys were self-administered to willing participants selected through probability sampling at the University of the Witwatersrand. To analyse research data structural equation modeling approach was adopted whereby AMOS 23 and SPSS 23 were utilised. A key finding of the study revealed that the perceived usefulness of electric cars was positively related to its perceived value and perceived trust. However it was important to note that the influence that the perceived usefulness had on perceived value was significantly greatly than that of perceived trust. The main implication of this finding was that potential customers of electric car were of the notion that if they were to purchase the vehicle it would be based more on the potential value and less on their trust. The overall finding of the study was that all proposed hypotheses were supported whereby it was clearly indicated that the youths sample had favourable attitudes towards the use of electric cars. This TAM was indeed a model that could be used to predict users’ acceptance of a new technology. The chief contribution of this study was introducing a unique approach through a modified TAM to assess youth’s potential acceptance of electronic cars. / XL2018

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 1996. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.E. Mechanical Engineering)--University of Waikato, 2008. / Title from PDF cover (viewed October 2, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-136)

The purpose of the study is to analyze the energy use of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), to compare their energy usage with other different vehicle technologies, and ultimately to determine their suitability for recreational use. The possibility of applying such vehicles into South Africa’s game reserves is researched in terms of energy costs and evaluated. Calculations were made based on actual existing routes found in the Kruger National Park, and are presently used by tourists for sightseeing and to access the different camps within the park. Calculations were made on the forces acting on a vehicle driving through the different routes and terrains. These forces were then translated into fuel or energy consumption and subsequently into fuel and energy prices. The entire exercise was performed on alternative vehicle technologies in a hypothetical scenario. The calculations investigated the energy consumption and efficiency of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) and other vehicle technologies such as fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and lastly the internal combustion engine (ICEV) vehicle. It was found that the energy consumption of each vehicle technology revealed similar trends and ranking on most routes. However on certain routes, the energy usage difference amongst the different vehicle technologies became more pronounced. This can be attributed to the continuous demand of energy by the vehicle to maintain forward motion. It was found that in general, irrespective of the route profile, the route surface or its total distance, the highest energy efficiency is achieved by the battery electric vehicle (BEV), followed by the fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) and then by the combined hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and lastly by the internal combustion engine (ICEV) vehicle. / Electrical Engineering / M. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)

Cette thèse cherche à comprendre et développer comment les trajectoires institutionnelles émergent, tant empiriquement que théoriquement. Sur la base d’une étude de cas de l’industrie et la culture automobile, elle identifie les trajectoires de PATH DEPENDENCY, historiquement (chap.1) et théoriquement (chap.2). Dans une approche méthodologique qualitative, les chapitres 4 et 5 identifient les effets des conflits environnementaux dans l’industrie que remettent en cause la justification de sa structure même. L’analyse empirique de différents conflits autour des standards des émissions des voitures, les innovations technologiques comme le moteur électrique montrent que l’automobilité de demain, et le secteur, vont évoluer de manière plus pluraliste et hétérogène qu’avant. Si parmi les deux scenarios de développement une trajectoire institutionnelle stable émerge, elle dépend de si un narratif cohérent peut émerger, qui rend compréhensible et évident les relations entre offre, demande et réglementation pour les acteurs. La conclusion (ch.6) identifie les conditions d’émergence de nouvelles trajectoires institutionnelles : dans les conflits où un narratif alternatif est déjà présent, mais sous-jacent, des nouvelles structures organisationnelles et sémantiques peuvent émerger. / This PhD thesis seeks to understand how institutional paths emerge, theoretically and empirically. Taking the case of the European automobile industry and culture it revisits how path dependency can emerge historically (chapter 1) and theoretical patterns of path production (chapter 2). Based on qualitative research design (chapter 3), the case study identifies possibilities of path rupture through environmental conflicts in automobile history (chapter 4 and 5). It shows that through path ruptures and the emergence of new paths following new environmental requirements, 21st century automobility builds pluralistic and more heterogeneous semantic and organizational structures. Geographic and local conditions such as city planning and infrastructure matter in shaping vehicle use and culture in the future, as well does the distribution of decision making power on different political levels. Chapter 6summarize s and reflects the results of my micro-analytical study as parts of an emerging theory of path creation. If the analyzed trajectories of scenarios for the automobile sector become reality, either electrified automobility or electric multimodality, depends on whether they build a coherent narrative that ‘make sense’ of offer, demand and regulation in the sector. The case study showed that these coherent narratives can emerge when conflicts render visible already existing counter-narratives. These counter-narratives emerge in situations of crisis, such as when new environmental regulation determines technological development and behavioural adaptation in automobility. Once accepted, they create a new path – a new semantic and organizational structure in society.

The disturbing current situation regarding the world climate has initiated a major wave of urgent developments towards decreasing the overall impact of human activities on the living environment. A major role player in this development is the automobile industry that is inherently connected to pollution of various types, be it air, water or noise pollution. There have been drastic changes not only in the technologies employed in producing vehicles and components, but also in the construction and technologies built into modern automobiles to lessen the overall environmental impact of the industry. Noxious emissions have been decreased, overall efficiencies increased and vehicles are becoming more economical with each new generation. Stricter laws dictate that the level of acceptable vehicle emissions is to be decreased ever further and all manufacturers are developing various possibilities to achieve this. With the emergence of hybrid vehicle technology, there was also a sudden development of different electrical systems that were made viable by the higher onboard voltage systems employed in hybrid vehicles. One of these developments was the electrical air conditioning compressor for use in automobile applications. Although it is designed to operate with a higher voltage than the traditional 12V onboard vehicle systems, it is theoretically possible to incorporate it into a 12V system by making use of a DC-DC converter to step up the supply voltage of the electrical compressor sufficiently to allow for its successful operation. The question therefore arises whether it would be feasible and sensible to employ an electrical air conditioning system in conventional combustion engine vehicles from an overall fuel consumption and vehicle emissions point of view. A modelling approach was taken where an overall vehicle driving simulation was created to represent an average modern production vehicle. The simulation was then extended to include the options of incorporating models for both mechanically and electrically driven air conditioning systems. This provides insight into the influences of the air conditioning system on the vehicle’s overall fuel consumption and an opportunity to compare the influences from the two different systems. This study attempted to provide answers to some of the viability questions regarding the incorporation of electrically driven air conditioning systems into vehicles that use standard 12V onboard voltage systems. It was found that the electrical system has definite potential as a viable replacement option for the conventional system should it be combined with an appropriate alternator and equipped with an efficient control system.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / There is a strong urge for advanced diagnosis method, especially in high power battery packs and high energy density cell design applications, such as electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle segment, due to safety concerns. Accurate and robust diagnosis methods are required in order to optimize battery charge utilization and improve EV range. Battery faults cause significant model parameter variation affecting battery internal states and output. This work is focused on developing diagnosis method to reliably detect various faults inside lithium-ion cell using electrochemical model based observer and fuzzy logic algorithm, which is implementable in real-time. The internal states and outputs from battery plant model were compared against those from the electrochemical model based observer to generate the residuals. These residuals and states were further used in a fuzzy logic based residual evaluation algorithm in order to detect the battery faults. Simulation results show that the proposed methodology is able to detect various fault types including overcharge, over-discharge and aged battery quickly and reliably, thus providing an effective and accurate way of diagnosing li-ion battery faults.