“…In a high-power cold start, immediate power from the engine is required to assist the electric drivetrain while neither the engine is at its optimal operating condition (Pham and Jeftic, 2018) nor the TWC is at its light-off temperature (Carlson et al, 2007). Several studies have reported elevated regulated emission levels as well as PN emissions from HEVs compared to CVs (Cao et al, 2018;Costagliola et al, 2015;Duarte et al, 2014;Huang et al, 2019;Ng et al, 2001;Pham and Jeftic, 2018;Russell et al, 2015;Varella et al, 2016;Wei and Porter, 2011;Yang et al, 2019). In addition, there are also studies that claim that HEVs' emission rates are comparable to those of CVs (Christenson et al, 2007;Huang et al, 2019;Kontses et al, 2020).…”