Abstract
Plug-in hybrid electrical vehicles (PHEVs) are generally considered to be a cleaner alternative to conventional passenger cars. However, there is still very limited information available regarding criteria pollutant emissions from these vehicles. This paper shows, for the first time, the emissions of criteria pollutants, unregulated pollutants, and CO2 and also electric range from two very different PHEVs, one Euro 6 parallel plug-in hybrid and one range-extended battery electric vehicle (BEVx), applying the new world harmonized light-duty test procedure at ambient temperatures equal to 23 and −7 °C. The impact of using a cabin air heating system on vehicle electric range and emissions at cold temperature has also been studied. Cold ambient temperatures and, to a larger extent, the use of heating systems have been shown to lead to a pronounced negative impact on emissions and shorter electric ranges. Results also show that modern PHEVs can emit similar, or even higher, levels of pollutants (e.g., particle number) as Euro 6 conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles.
Highlights
Vehicle exhaust emissions are of general concern as they are among the main contributors to urban air pollution and to climate change
Plug-in hybrid electrical vehicles (PHEVs) are vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine (ICE), an electric motor, and a rechargeable electric energy storage system (REESS) that can be directly charged from the electric grid
Previous works reported that hybrid electric vehicles present enhanced energy efficiency and lower pollutant emissions compared to conventional vehicles,[8,9] but we have recently reported that criteria pollutant emissions from a Euro 5 PHEV can be similar to those measured from conventional vehicles.[10]
Summary
Vehicle exhaust emissions are of general concern as they are among the main contributors to urban air pollution and to climate change. That procedure has been replaced by the world harmonized light-duty test procedure (WLTP).[19] The WLTP, developed to be more representative of real-world driving conditions than the former type-approval, has been used for type-approval of light-duty vehicles (LDVs) in the European Union since September 2017.19 Since PHEVs are gradually taking over a large fraction of the global vehicle market,[20] and they are considered to be a cleaner alternative to conventional gasoline and diesel passenger cars, it is of major importance to evaluate their emissions to be able to anticipate their impact and share in the total emissions from the transport sector. We aim at highlighting the importance of the emissions of regulated (total hydrocarbons (THC), NOx, CO, particle number (PN)) and nonregulated (NH3 and N2O) pollutants from PHEVs in comparison to conventional vehicles, as well as the strong negative effect that cold ambient temperature can have on PHEV’s emissions and vehicle electric range
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