Optimal Spatial Allocation of Budget to Promote Uptake of New Vehicle Technology

Social exposure is one of the factors affecting the diffusion dynamics for Electric Vehicles (EV) uptake. It could be increased by advertising, but the effects of it change among different groups of people and residential zones. This study develops an optimization model that determines efficient allocation of advertising budget to zones. This model includes a dynamic market diffusion model (Struben-Sterman model, 2008) that incorporates the advertising effects. The dynamic interaction of Origin-Destination (OD) travel demand influences the dynamics of the advertising effects that increases the complexity of the model. Equity is also considered when allocating the budget to each zone. The output provides the most effective budget allocation scheme for each zone to decision makers to maximize EV uptake. We implement the model to 11 zones in Sydney network and the results prove the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model.