Benefits of Reducing Air Emissions: Replacing Conventional with Electric Passenger Vehicles

Ofira Ayalon,Amos Shtibelman,Bernanda Flicstein

doi:10.4236/jep.2013.410119

Abstract

The study estimated the cost of local and global air emissions, and to compare the differences between electric passenger vehicles (EV) and conventional, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The air emissions were estimated for the year 2020, for Denmark, France and Israel, because of their significantly different fuel mixes to produce electricity—a high percentage of renewable energy, mainly nuclear energy and high fossil fuels, respectively. Air emissions from electricity production and conventional traffic were calculated for each country and then multiplied by the specific country’s cost of emissions. Subtracting the total cost of electricity production from the total cost of conventional transportation yields the total benefit for each of the economies studied. The environmental benefit, depending on EV penetration rates, was found to be in the range of 7.8 to 133 MEUR/year for Denmark, 94 to1948 MEUR/year for France and only 4 to 82 MEUR/year for Israel, whose energy mix is the most polluting. Our analysis also shows higher potential benefits when replacing passenger car fleets comprising a high percentage of diesel cars with EVs, as well as in highly populated areas. In addition, we quantified the differences between EVs with fixed batteries and the new switch able battery concept (EASYBAT), as part of the EU 7th Framework Program me. The additional electricity demands for the EASYBAT concept are negligible, and therefore, do not change the overall conclusion that the cleaner the electricity energy mix and the higher the penetration of EVs, the higher the environmental benefits achieved.

Highlights

Two major forces are driving the world to find alternative fuels for conventional transportation
Gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger vehicles are major contributors of many noxious emissions, on the local level, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) [1]. [2,3] showed that, PM2.5 is directly related to vehicle exhaust emissions, Inhalable Particulate Matter (PM10) emissions originate from nonexhaust emissions
The aim of this study was to estimate the differences between electric vehicles (EV) and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in terms of air emissions and to analyze and estimate the differences between the electric passenger vehicles (EV) with fixed battery and the new switch able battery concept (EASYBAT), as part of the FP7 project

Summary

Introduction

Two major forces are driving the world to find alternative fuels for conventional transportation. The first is the increasing concern about local and global air emissions and their effects on areas such as human health, agricultural crops and property value. The second force is the need to reduce the world’s dependency on oil, and will not be discussed in this paper. Gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger vehicles are major contributors of many noxious emissions, on the local level, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) [1]. The effect of traffic on urban air quality in Israel can be most accurately assessed on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement—the holiest day in the Jewish calendar), when the streets are practically empty of traffic for the entire day, whereas heavy industry (including power plants and oil refineries) reduces its capacity only slightly [5]. The data show that pollutant concentrations in the large urban centers are reduced nearly to zero

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