Track: Energy

Abstract

Due to the increasing threat of the environmental impact of vehicle emissions, actions need to be taken against them.  As a response, Electric Vehicles (EV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are introduced to the market with the purpose of mitigating the quantity of pollution emitted by fuel consumption. This study shows that with the increasing adoption of EVs and PHEVs, emissions decrease significantly through 2012 – 2050, specifically in three zones which are The Metropolitan Area of Toronto, Ottawa Ontario, and The Metropolitan Area of Hamilton. This is presented by assuming three different scenarios. In the first scenario (basic case), no EVs or PHEVs are penetrated in the market. In the second scenario, EVs are penetrated and in the third scenario PHEV-10s are penetrated. The number of related EVs and PHEVs through each scenario is forecasted. To show the quantity of emissions produced in the zones considering the scenarios, initially the emission factors for Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and Major Non-GHG pollutants are found. Emission factors represent the average grams of a certain pollutant produced with each vehicle kilometer. In the next step, the total commuting distances of vehicles in each scenario are found and when combined with the emission factors, the total emissions produced in each scenario are presented. The results prove that the total emissions per season will drop by roughly 40% to 50% of the quantity they would emit when no EVs or PHEVs are penetrated.