Powering electric cars in Malaysia with green electricity produced from oil palm biomass

Abstract

Generation of electricity and transportation in Malaysia are largely dominated by fossil fuel sources. These non-renewable fossil fuel sources generate approximately 0.77 kgCO2eq for every kWh of electricity generated and 2.31 kgCO2eq per liter of petrol for every kilometer traveled by a typical car contributing adversely to global warming. A possible solution to promote green electricity generation and reduce fossil fuel utilization is to use oil palm biomass to generate electricity to power electric vehicles (EVs) in Malaysia. With 454 palm oil mills (POMs) processing a total capacity of 112,187,800 tons of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per year, there is ample source of oil palm biomass available in Malaysia. Each ton of FFB produces biomass waste of 7% palm kernel shell (PKS), 14% palm mesocarp fiber (MF) and 23% empty fruit bunch (EFB). By storing and transporting this excess electricity in a mobile energy storage system to power EVs in Malaysia, CO2 emission reduction of 0.9 tCO2eq per EV per year can be realised, and may be a cheaper alternative to fuelling up with gasoline by 2030.