1. Faculty of Environment
  2. Institute for Transport Studies
  3. Research and innovation
  4. Research projects
  5. MOT - Motoring and vehicle Ownership Trends in the UK

Research project

MOT - Motoring and vehicle Ownership Trends in the UK

  • Start date: 1 January 2016
  • End date: 31 December 2016
  • Funder: EPSRC
  • Primary investigator: Professor Jillian Anable
  • External co-investigators: Dr Sally Cairns, Transport Research Laboratory and University College London; Professor Eddie Wilson, University of Bristol; Dr Tim Chatterton, University of the West of England

The project aims to reduce emissions from car travel by understanding car ownership patterns and the effects of policy measures. Efforts to reduce the emissions from car travel have so far been hampered by a lack of specific information on car ownership and use.

The Motoring and vehicle Ownership Trends in the UK (MOT) project seeks to address this by bringing together new sources of data to give a spatially and disaggregated diagnosis of car ownership and use in Great Britain and the associated emissions and energy demands.

Data from annual car roadworthiness tests in the UK (MOTs), made available by the Department for Transport, together with additional details of all vehicles registered from the UK Driver Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) is used as a platform upon which to undertake a set of inter-linked modelling and analysis tasks using multiple sources of vehicle-specific and area-based data.

The project has developed the capability to understand spatial differences in car ownership and use, the determinants of those differences, and how levels may change over time and in response to various policy measures. The relationship between fuel use and emissions, and the demographic, economic, infrastructural and socio-cultural factors influencing these, has been tested.

Consequently, the MOT project has the potential to transform the way in which energy and emissions related to car use are quantified, understood and monitored to help refine future research and policy agendas and to inform transport and energy infrastructure planning.

The original EPSRC project (EP/K000438/1) has now been completed. The project team are working on securing funding for follow-on work.

Publications and outputs

Journal papers

Conference papers (refereed)

Conference papers (not refereed)

Reports

Selected conference, workshop and meeting presentations (included here only where there is a link to slides)

Coverage in the popular and scientific press