Profile
| Keywords: | Transportation engineering, Transportation planning, Evacuations, Resilience, Sustainability, Choice-making, Shared mobility, Electric vehicles, Disasters |
Dr. Stephen Wong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta and leads the Resilient and Sustainable Mobility and Evacuation (RESUME) Group. Dr. Wong’s research focuses on the intersection of disasters/emergencies, decision-making, and transportation and works to create more resilient, environmentally friendly, and equitable transportation systems. He is actively involved in resilience and young professional activities at the Transportation Research Board and evacuation research at the International Association for Fire Safety Science. Dr. Wong received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. FES Funded ProjectsOutputs
| Title |
Category |
Date |
Authors |
| Systematic Review of Electric Vehicles, Resilience, and EvacuationsDisasters often require large-scale evacuations, and damage key infrastructure (e.g., power, transportation). With growing electric vehicle (EV) adoption and electrification of transportation, governments and utilities may face significant power challenges during disasters, especially during the evacuation stage. Low state-of-charge, sporadic charging infrastructure, or power outages could significantly hamper safe and effective evacuations. Yet, EVs also offer possible resilience benefits to emergency response by more easily charging electronics or sending power back to the grid through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. This paper focuses on the opportunities, benefits, and drawbacks of EVs in disasters and evacuations through a systematic review of current literature, reports, and sources. Overall, this review discovered EVs show promise as modes of transportation and mobile energy supply units. However, crucial challenges such as charging infrastructure locations, upfront cost of resilience technologies, and user behavior necessitate more dedicated research to overcome shortcomings and guide more realistic implementation of benefits.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Publication | 2024-10-20 | | | Electric Vehicles and Disaster MitigationSource: Alberta Motor Association
In this episode of the EV Life podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Stephen Wong, assistant professor at the University of Alberta in Transportation Engineering. Stephen shares some insights into research his team is working on around the use of electric vehicles in disasters, including evacuation equity and power management.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Publication | 2023-10-23 | | | Systematic Review of Electric Vehicles, Resilience, and EvacuationsPoster presentation held at the TRB annual meeting over 3 days. Showcased the state of existing research on electric vehicle (EV) resilience during disasters and user behavior in these scenarios. Due to travel and visa limitations, the presentation was completed by Dr. Wong in Mohammad’s absence.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2024-01-09 | | | When the Grid Goes Dark: Can Electric Cars Save the Day in a Disaster?Public hour-long talk at the Edmonton Public Library followed up by questions from the audience. Covered the purpose, value, and goals of the research in a slideshow presentation hosted by FES as part of their Energy Talks series.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2024-02-21 | | | Electric Vehicle Behaviour in DisastersPoster presentation covering the state of research and goals for discrete choice modeling to represent the behavior of EV users in disaster scenarios. Models made from survey responses obtained from respondents at high risk of wildfires within Alberta and British Columbia. Included descriptive statistics and preliminary results from the research obtained up to the date of the presentation.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2024-03-14 | | | Systematic Review of Electric Vehicles, Resilience, and EvacuationsPoster presentation covering the literature review conducted as part of the research project. Outlined the landscape of existing research on the subject of EV resilience in disasters for attendees and stakeholders at the event.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2024-03-14 | | | Understanding Electric Vehicle Usage and Behavior during Evacuations from Disasters: An Discrete Choice Modeling ApproachThe rise in adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) presents a unique challenge for disaster planning. Their reliance upon the grid for fuel requires capable resilient electricity infrastructure to withstand the surge in demand from evacuees. For those living in areas highly vulnerable to wildfires, safe and resilient evacuations are especially important. Simultaneously, EVs present a novel opportunity to act as power sources that fulfill the electricity needs of communities that would otherwise be cut off from power. Their mobility makes them invaluable for transporting power to crucial facilities in emergencies. As such, the actions of EV-owners during disasters is critical in helping us understand how to prepare for outage events for the rapidly growing ubiquity of these vehicles. This research utilizes discrete choice models in an effort to understand electric vehicle-enabled actions and choices in wildfire-prone regions.
The models used in this research draw from the results of an evacuation study distributed among populations in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia who are at high risk of exposure to wildfires. The survey encompasses factors such as risk perception, willingness to share, and potential behavior in evacuation scenarios with access to electric vehicles. These factors play a crucial role in shaping individual decisions during a disaster. The methodology involves utilizing Biogeme software to create discrete choice models that accurately represent the relationship between survey-taker responses and their EV-enabled actions. The procedure includes the development of various binary and multinomial logit models with the ultimate goal of finding a link between electric vehicle use and other vital user behaviors and during crises.
While the models are currently under development, it is anticipated that they will be fully completed within the next six months. We hope the results of these models will entice a comprehensive discussion of the results, implications, and potential applications. The research findings could hold significant value for informing policymakers, urban planners, and stakeholders involved in disaster evacuation and planning in wildfire-prone regions. The conclusions from this research will further aid the construction of an agent-based model (ABM) to fully understand the interactions of autonomous decision-makers within the context of EV resilience during disasters. The results from this research can inform targeted interventions to facilitate the safe and effective use of electric vehicles during outage events and evacuations.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2024-09-25 | | | Understanding Intended Electric Vehicle Usage and Travel Behaviour during Wildfire EvacuationsThe rise in the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) presents a unique challenge for disaster planning. Their reliance on the grid for fuel requires capable and resilient electricity infrastructure to withstand the surge in demand during evacuation scenarios. This grid resilience is crucial for safe and resilient evacuations by those living in areas highly vulnerable to wildfires. On the other hand, EVs present a novel opportunity to act as power sources that fulfill the electricity needs of communities that would otherwise lose power. Unpinning both challenges and opportunities is how EV drivers will behave, especially related to charging. However, research on this behaviour in the context of disasters remains sparse. To address the behavioural gap, this study developed a series of discrete choice models to understand the factors that impact EV charging behaviour in a future wildfire. T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2025-01-07 | | | Should you worry about evacuating in an EV?Mohammad Babaei gave an interview for the Washington Post on considerations that should be made by EV owners in disasters when evacuating. He was featured as a key expert in the article.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Activity | 2025-04-10 | | | Assessment of Intended Electric Vehicle Usage and Travel Behaviour during Wildfire EvacuationElectric vehicle (EV) adoption is a growing challenge for disaster planning, requiring resilient grids and strategies. With minimal research on EV user behaviour in an evacuation context, this study addresses this gap by developing a series of discrete choice models to understand the factors that impact EV charging behaviour in a hypothetical wildfire evacuation. Through a non-probability panel from the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia of people living in high/medium fire risk, we collected survey data (n=1371) on intended actions, assuming a 400 km range EV. Results indicate diverse EV charging patterns, both spatially and temporarily. Across all models, we found that EV ownership, a preference to reduce risk to property and family, intended evacuation choices, and past hazard experience influenced charging behaviour. Targeted grid improvements and strategic placement of both fixed and mobile charging stations would likely be sufficient to meet electricity demand from EVs in evacuations.T06-Q06 University of Alberta | Publication | 2025-01-22 | |
|
|
