Dr. Kontou was invited to present her work during the 2019’s Data for Good Exchange (D4GX) at Bloomberg’s Headquarters in New York City (September 2019). Her study uncovered associations of ridesourcing use (which describes the transportation service of Uber and Lyft) and road safety outcomes, including road crashes, injuries, and driving while intoxicated offenses. Ria led discussions on the importance of data-driven solutions to emerging mobility challenges, such as Vision Zero.
Dr. Kontou presented an invited lecture during a workshop on Integrating New Electric Mobility Systems with the Electric Grid Infrastructure, hosted by Sloan Foundation and Boston University. Ria presented her research on electricity rates for electric vehicle fast charging in the United States, which was published at the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal. Dr. Kontou highlighted high operating cost mitigation strategies through appropriate electricity pricing structures as well as via energy storage and photovoltaics charging site collocation.
Dr. Kontou presented at the Conference on Transportation, Economics, Energy and the Environment, held at the University of Michigan on Friday October 19th, 2019. Ria presented her published work on electric vehicle fast charging rates, which uncovers spatial heterogeneity and variations of electricity cost for different scenarios of fast charging station size and use based on over 7,500 commercial and industrial electricity tariffs available during 2017 across the United States. This study identifies opportunities to mitigate high electricity costs, which fast charging infrastructure operators bear, through appropriate electricity rate-making.
