This paper investigates the drivers of recent improvements in Saudi Arabia’s fleet fuel economy for new vehicles including passenger cars and light-duty trucks. Vehicle choice models are estimated using both aggregate new vehicle sales data and disaggregate new vehicle buyer survey data. The estimated models are used to simulate counterfactual policy scenarios. Simulation results suggest that the Saudi gasoline price elasticity of demand for new vehicle fuel economy decreased slightly over recent years, but it is still more elastic than that of the United States. Moreover, the increase in domestic gasoline prices between 2014 and 2016 accounted for 42% of the increase in estimated new vehicle fleet fuel economy over that period. Finally, the estimated elasticities, and thus policy sensitivities, vary by income and household size. A revenue-neutral household income- and size-based feebate policy could be more progressive than a gasoline price increase for improving the new vehicle fleet fuel economy.

Fellow Rubal is a research fellow at KAPSARC focused on understanding consumer decision making, in particular, consumer choice of energy-efficient technologies… Rubal is a research fellow at KAPSARC focused on understanding consumer decision making, in particular, consumer choice of energy-efficient technologies and mobility options under alternative technology and policy scenarios. Before joining KAPSARC, Rubal gained a Ph.D. at KAUST designing advanced carbon materials for energy and environmental applications, with a particular focus on energy storage, carbon capture, waste-water treatment, and hydrogen generation via solar water splitting. Prior to that, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania on a semiconductor industry-funded project, developing a continuum modeling framework for simulating the physics of micro defect formation in silicon crystals.
Expertise
- Behavorial decision science
- Consumer adoption
- Energy-efficient mobility and shared autonomous mobility-on-demand
Publications See all Rubal Dua’s publications

Expert Survey Assessment of Emerging Maritime Decarbonization Challenges and Priorities
This paper investigates the drivers of recent improvements in Saudi Arabia’s fleet fuel economy for…
14th September 2023
Future Fuel Demand From the Saudi Shipping Sector: A Business-as-Usual Estimation
This paper investigates the drivers of recent improvements in Saudi Arabia’s fleet fuel economy for…
21st August 2023