Research

I study how consumers, firms, markets, and policy affect technological change, with a focus on accelerating the transition to low-carbon technologies like electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. I have expertise in choice modeling, programming in R, and the global electric vehicle industry.

Google Scholar ORCID Research Gate


Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. *Kaplan, Leah & Helveston, John P. (2023) “Undercutting Transit? Exploring potential competition between autonomous vehicles and public transportation in the U.S.” Transportation Research Record. DOI: 10.1177/03611981231208976
  1. Zhao, L., Ottinger, E., Yip, A., & Helveston, J.P. (2023) “Quantifying electric vehicle mileage in the United States” Joule. 7, 1–15. DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2023.09.015
  1. *Zhao, L., Szajnfarber, Z., Broniatowski, D.A., & Helveston, J.P. (2023) “Using conjoint analysis to incorporate heterogeneous preferences into multimodal transit trip simulations” Systems Engineering. DOI: 10.1002/sys.21670
  1. Helveston, John P. (2023) “logitr: Fast Estimation of Multinomial and Mixed Logit Models with Preference Space and Willingness to Pay Space Utility Parameterizations” Journal of Statistical Software. 105(10), 1-37. DOI: 10.18637/jss.v105.i10
  1. Helveston, J.P., He, G., & Davidson, M.R. (2022) “Quantifying the cost savings of global solar photovoltaic supply chains” Nature. 612 (7938), pg. 83-87. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05316-6
  1. *Roberson, Laura A. & Helveston, John P. (2022) “Not all subsidies are equal: Measuring preferences for electric vehicle financial incentives” Environmental Research Letters. 17(084003). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac7df3
  1. Szajnfarber, Z., Groover, J.A., Wei, Z., Broniatowski, D.A., Chernicoff, W., & Helveston, J.P. (2021) “Evolvability Analysis Framework: Adding Transition Path and Stakeholder Diversity to Infrastructure Investment Decisions” Systems Engineering. 25(1):35-50. DOI: 10.1002/sys.21600
  1. Feinberg, F., Bruch, E., Braun, M., Hemenway Falk, B., Fefferman, N., Feit, E.M., Helveston, J.P., Larremore, D., McShane, B.B., Patania, A., & Small, M.L. (2020) “Choices in networks: a research framework” Marketing Letters. 31(4), 349-359. DOI: 10.1007/s11002-020-09541-9
  1. *Roberson, Laura A. & Helveston, John P. (2020) “Electric vehicle adoption: can short experiences lead to big change?” Environmental Research Letters. 15(0940c3). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aba715
  1. Helveston, John P. & Nahm, Jonas (2019) “China’s key role in scaling low-carbon energy technologies” Science. 366(6467), pg. 794-796. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz1014
  1. Helveston, J.P., Seki, S., Min, J., Fairman, E., Boni, A.A., Michalek, J.J., & Azevedo, I. (2019) “Choice at the Pump: Measuring Preferences for Lower-Carbon Combustion Fuels” Environmental Research Letters. 14(8). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab2bd2
  1. Helveston, J.P., Wang, Y., Karplus, V.J., & Fuchs, E.R.H. (2019) “Institutional Complementarities: The Origins of Experimentation in China’s Plug-in Electric Vehicle Industry” Research Policy. 48(1), pg. 206-222. DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2018.08.006
  1. Helveston, J.P., Feit, E.M., & Michalek, J.J. (2018) “Pooling Stated and Revealed Preference Data in the Presence of Endogeneity” Transportation Research Part B: Methodological. 109, pg. 70-89. DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2018.01.010
  1. Helveston, J.P., Liu, Y., Feit, E.M., Fuchs, E.R.H., Klampfl, E., & Michalek, J.J. (2015) “Will subsidies drive electric vehicle adoption? Measuring consumer preferences in the U.S. and China” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. 73, 96–112. DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2015.01.002

Working Papers & Papers Under Review

  1. Forsythe, Connor R., Arteaga, C., & Helveston, J.P. (2024) “The Heterogeneous Aggregate Valence Analysis (HAVAN) Model: A Flexible Approach to Modeling Unobserved Heterogeneity in Discrete Choice Analysis” Working paper.
  1. Kaplan, Leah, Nurullaeva, L., & Helveston, J.P. (2023) “Modeling the Hidden Labor Costs of Autonomous Vehicle Taxi Services” Under review.
  1. Roberson, Laura A., Pantha, S., & Helveston, J.P. (2023) “Battery-Powered Bargains? Assessing Electric Vehicle Resale Value in the United States” Under review.
  1. Murphree, M., Helveston, J.P., & Breznitz, D. (2023) “Intellectual Property as a Production Input: Expanding Theories of Institutional Change and Profiting from Innovation” Under review.

Conference Publications

  1. *Kaplan, Leah, Szajnfarber, Z., & Helveston, John P. (2023) “Shifting, Not Shrinking? Exploring Labor Roles in Traditional and Automated Door-to-Door Transportation Service” Proceedings of the IISE Annual Conference & Expo 2023. New Orleans, LA, USA, May 20-23, 2023, 3125.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2022) “The Rise of Chinese Leadership in the Plug-in Electric Vehicle Industry” Chinese Industrial Policy: Sectors and Resources. UCSD Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, San Diego, CA. Sep. 30.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2022) “The cbcTools Package: Tools for Designing and Testing Choice-Based Conjoint Surveys in R” Sawtooth Software Conference. Orlando, FL. May 6.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2021) “Obtaining Willingness to Pay Estimates from Preference Space and Willingness to Pay Space Utility Models” Sawtooth Software Conference. San Antonio, TX. Apr. 19.
  1. Liang, Z., Li, D., Fu, X., Beltekian, D., Helveston, J.P. (2018) “Why is Siemens establishing its robotics R&D centers in China? A case study on the Siemens industrial robot project” IEEE International Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (TEMS-ISIE). Beijing, PRC, pp. 1-9. DOI: 10.1109/TEMS-ISIE.2018.8478558
  1. Helveston, J.P., Wang, Y., Karplus, V.J., & Fuchs, E.R.H. (2016) “Up, Down, and Sideways: Innovation in China and the Case of Plug-in Electric Vehicles” Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Anaheim, CA. Aug. 5.
  1. Helveston, J.P., Liu, Y., Feit, E.M., Fuchs, E.R.H., Klampfl, E., & Michalek, J.J. (2014) “Will subsidies drive electric vehicle adoption? Measuring consumer preferences in the U.S. and China” National Academies Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C. Jan. 13.

Magazine Publications

  1. *Kaplan, Leah, Szajnfarber, Z., & Helveston, John P. (2023) “Driverless – but not humanless – vehicle systems” IISE Magazine. November.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2021) “Why the US Trails the World in Electric Vehicles” Issues in Science and Technology. 37, no. 2 (Winter 2021).
  1. Helveston, John P. (2017) “Perspective: Navigating an Uncertain Future for US Roads” Issues in Science and Technology. 34, no. 1 (Fall 2017).

Books / Book Chapters

  1. Helveston, John P. (2022) “Programming for Analytics in R.”

Theses

  1. Helveston, John P. (2016) “Development and Adoption of Plug-in Electric Vehicles in China: Markets, Policy, and Innovation” Ph.D. Dissertation. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Opinion Editorials

  1. Helveston, John P. (2023) “Electric Vehicle Owners Are Not Driving Enough—And That’s Bad” Scientific American.
  1. Helveston, J.P., He, G., & Davidson, M.R. (2022) “The Cost of Going Solo in Solar” New Security Beat.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2022) “To boost solar, the US should use more carrots and fewer sticks” The Hill.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2022) “Tariffs won’t build a robust US solar industry” The Hill.

Other Publications

  1. Helveston, John P. (2019) “Podcast: GWU Professor John Helveston on EVs in China” The Future Car: A Siemens Podcast. May 13, 2019.
  1. Helveston, John P. (2019) “China’s looser rules may usher in a new era for EV and AV companies” Axios. February 1, 2019.
  1. Hatch, Jennifer & Helveston, J.P. (2018) “Will Autonomous Vehicles be Electric?” Institute for Sustainable Energy Blog. August 8, 2018.

Software

  1. Helveston, John P. (aut, cre, cph) (2021) “logitr: Fast Estimation of Multinomial and Mixed Logit Models with Preference Space and Willingness to Pay Space Utility Parameterizations” R package version 0.8.0.
  1. Helveston, John P. (aut, cre, cph) & Aden-Buie, Garrick (aut) (2021) “renderthis: Render Slides To Different Formats” R package version 0.2.0.
  1. Helveston, John P. (aut, cre, cph) (2021) “cbcTools: Tools For Designing Choice-Based Conjoint Survey Experiments” R package version 0.0.3.

Media Coverage

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