Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles: Implications for Policy

Samaras, Constantine; Meisterling, Kyle W

doi:10.1021/es702178s

Cited by 563 publications

(412 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The fairest comparison method would consider well-to-wheel emissions, i.e. with all upstream sources accounted for, and could also account for the full product lifecycle, although the usage phase dominates (Samaras, 2008). Such analysis was outside the scope of the current research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative measurements of the energy consumption of 51 electric, hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles

Howey

Martinez-Botas

Cussons

et al. 2011

Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

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This paper presents the measured energy consumption results of a range of efficient vehicles over a 57 mile urban / extra-urban route. The results show that on average the electric vehicles used the least amount of energy (average 0.62 MJ/km), followed by the hybrid vehicles (average 1.14 MJ/km), and the internal combustion engine vehicles (average 1.68 MJ/km). The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle used 1.2 MJ/km. An estimate of CO 2 emissions was also made and it was found that hybrids gave the lowest CO 2 emissions, with around half of the vehicles emitting less than 70 gCO 2 /km. The most efficient diesel combustion engine vehicles emitted about 80 gCO 2 /km but the majority exceeded 110 gCO 2 /km. The majority of electric vehicles emitted 70-110 gCO 2 /km assuming a United Kingdom grid average emissions factor of 542 gCO 2 /kWh.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative measurements of the energy consumption of 51 electric, hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles

Howey

Martinez-Botas

Cussons

et al. 2011

Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

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“…The Japanese institute for Lifecycle Environmental assessment (http:// www.ilea.org) estimates similar emissions from production of a gasoline conventional vehicle of about 1/8(12e13%) of the total CO 2 emissions from tailpipe. Samaras and Meisterling (2008) attribute for a Toyota Corolla type vehicle 35 g CO 2 -eq km À1 to the car manufacturing, 177 g CO 2 -eq km À1 to the gasoline consumption on site and 57 g CO 2 -eq km À1 for gasoline upstream emissions (e.g. distribution and refining).…”

Section: Materials Related Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is important to include this component in an assessment of future emission where more of the transport system is being electrified, in rail and also in road transport. A life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions demonstrated for the present electricity mix in the United States that plug-in hybrid electric car are hardly beneficial compared to normal hybrids (Samaras and Meisterling, 2008). Future emissions per unit of electricity produced are, however, also expected to change.…”

Section: Well-to-tank Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: Land transport

Uherek¹,

Halenka²,

Borken‐Kleefeld³

et al. 2010

Atmospheric Environment

297

146

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a b s t r a c tEmissions from land transport, and from road transport in particular, have significant impacts on the atmosphere and on climate change. This assessment gives an overview of past, present and future emissions from land transport, of their impacts on the atmospheric composition and air quality, on human health and climate change and on options for mitigation.In the past vehicle exhaust emission control has successfully reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter. This contributed to improved air quality and reduced health impacts in industrialised countries. In developing countries however, pollutant emissions have been growing strongly, adversely affecting many populations. In addition, ozone and particulate matter change the radiative balance and hence contribute to global warming on shorter time scales. Latest knowledge on the magnitude of land transport's impact on global warming is reviewed here.In the future, road transport's emissions of these pollutants are expected to stagnate and then decrease globally. This will then help to improve the air quality notably in developing countries. On the contrary, emissions of carbon dioxide and of halocarbons from mobile air conditioners have been globally increasing and are further expected to grow. Consequently, road transport's impact on climate is gaining in importance. The expected efficiency improvements of vehicles and the introduction of biofuels will not be sufficient to offset the expected strong growth in both, passenger and freight transportation. Technical measures could offer a significant reduction potential, but strong interventions would be needed as markets do not initiate the necessary changes. Further reductions would need a resolute expansion of low-carbon fuels, a tripling of vehicle fuel efficiency and a stagnation in absolute transport volumes. Land transport will remain a key sector in climate change mitigation during the next decades.

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“…Prior grid scenario analyses and PHEVgrid interaction studies have used either grid models based on least cost unit commitment [2,3,9], the assumption that vehicle charging is provided by a single electricity generator technology [4], or an average regional or national grid mix [3,6,7,10,11]. The methodology presented herein is based on a correlation between system load and resource capacity factors identified in historical data that capture the complexity of resource dispatch without consideration of price signals, markets, and regulations that exist in the real system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions impacts of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle deployment on the U.S. western grid

Jansen

Brown

Samuelsen

2010

Journal of Power Sources

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a b s t r a c tThe constantly evolving western grid of the United States is characterized by complex generation dispatch based on economics, contractual agreements, and regulations. The future electrification of transportation via plug-in electric vehicles calls for an energy and emissions analysis of electric vehicle (EV) penetration scenarios based on realistic resource dispatch. A resource dispatch and emissions model for the western grid is developed and a baseline case is modeled. Results are compared with recorded data to validate the model and provide confidence in the analysis of EV-grid interaction outlooks. A modeled dispatch approach, based on a correlation between actual historical dispatch and system load data, is exercised to show the impacts (emission intensity, temporally resolved load demand) associated with EV penetration on the western grid. The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and selected charging scenarios are the focus for the analysis. The results reveal that (1) a correlation between system load and resource group capacity factor can be utilized in dispatch modeling, (2) the hourly emissions intensity of the grid depends upon PHEV fleet charge scenario, (3) emissions can be reduced for some species depending on the PHEV fleet charge scenario, and (4) the hourly model resolution of changes in grid emissions intensity can be used to decide on preferred fleet-wide charge profiles.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles: Implications for Policy

Cited by 563 publications

References 30 publications

Comparative measurements of the energy consumption of 51 electric, hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles

Comparative measurements of the energy consumption of 51 electric, hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles

Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: Land transport

Emissions impacts of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle deployment on the U.S. western grid

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