Modelling Social and Economic Impacts of Zero-Carbon Transition of the Indian Electricity System

Abstract

This research In today’s highly competitive automotive landscape, evolving customer expectations demand a shift from purely functional performance toward enhanced user-centric attributes such as comfort, usability, safety and overall driving experience. In this context, ergonomics has emerged as a critical determinant of customer satisfaction and perceived vehicle quality. However, ergonomic considerations in passenger car design are often addressed in a fragmented manner, particularly during the early stages of Vehicle Design and Architecture, where their impact is most significant. Improving the Performance of Ergonomics in Passenger Cars (IP-E-PC) is a complex challenge due to competing engineering constraints, interdependencies among ergonomic dimensions or factors and variability in user anthropometry. External trade-offs between Ergonomics and technical requirements such as packaging and safety, along with intra-user differences in body dimensions and subjective perceptions, necessitate a structured and systematic approach. This study aims to develop and validate a comprehensive structural model or framework for IP-E-PC, integrating all the required key ergonomic dimensions, their interrelationships and measurement variables for each of the key ergonomic dimensions, while explicitly considering anthropometric diversity, particularly body height of users.The research is guided by four objectives: (i) identification of key ergonomic dimensions from the analysis of existing literature; (ii) development of a structural model considering the identified ergonomic dimensions using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM), supported by MICMAC analysis and formulation of a micro-level structural model for IP-E-PC by identifying and incorporating measurement variables for each of the key ergonomic dimensions; (iii) validation of the proposed structural model statistically by collecting the required sample of data from 442 respondents across India, Germany and China with segmentation based on three height categories: Short, Medium and Tall; and (iv) prioritization of ergonomic measurement variables considered for each of ergonomic dimension involved in the proposed structural model using the primary data from 92 respondents through the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to capture interdependencies and ranking their importance across user groups. The results indicate that IP-E-PC is governed by a set of interdependent ergonomic dimensions, with certain ergonomic dimensions exhibiting strong driving power. Significant ergonomic measurement variations are observed across anthropometric segments on ergonomic priorities, emphasizing the importance of inclusive design. The prioritization outcomes identify important ergonomic measurement variables that should be addressed during early-stage vehicle development to effectively manage design trade-offs across user groups. Overall, this research presents a structured and integrated approach for Improving the Performance of Ergonomics in Passenger Cars (IP-E-PC), enabling the development of user-centric and ergonomically optimized vehicle designs in a competitive automotive environment. Particularly, the study contributes to academic literature by providing a unified, system-level structural model for automotive ergonomics and offers practical value as a decision-support tool for designers and engineers.Despite the considerable contributions made in this research, there are certain limitations. The study is primarily situated within the scope of early-stage vehicle design and architecture, focusing on key ergonomic dimensions and measurement variables associated with occupant packaging. However, the secondary ergonomic aspects such as storage features, in-cabin utilities, and thermal comfort are not explicitly addressed in the current. Anthropometric variability is represented through three discrete height categories, which, while practical, may not fully capture finer variations such as body proportions. Additionally, the analysis is largely confined to static ergonomic conditions and does not account for dynamic factors such as vehicle vibrations, prolonged usage fatigue or variations in driving contexts. With these limitations, future research can build upon this work by integrating secondary ergonomic features, adopting more granular anthropometric representations, incorporating objective measurement techniques and extending the framework to include dynamic, real-world usage conditions for a more comprehensive evaluation of ergonomic performance in passenger cars.