A Study on CO 2 Emission Reduction Using Operating Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) for Rental Vehicles, Focusing on South Korea

Soongil Kwon and Yoon-Seong Chang ()
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Soongil Kwon: Forest Management Research Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Republic of Korea
Yoon-Seong Chang: Forest Management Research Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Republic of Korea

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: Regarding the goals for achieving carbon neutrality by 2025, the transportation sector is one of the main causes of various environmental burdens, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource depletion, so reducing the environmental impact of the automobile industry is important. Although many countries are conducting numerous studies on the environmental impact of electric vehicles, they are limited to each country’s vehicles and models, and are limited to the production and process stages. In this study, we compared and analyzed the carbon reductions in electric and internal combustion engine vehicles during the operation stage for the most commonly used mid-sized rental vehicles in South Korea. The research results confirmed a reduction effect of approximately 1 MtCO 2 -eq per year based on approximately 570,000 vehicles, and, if applied to all passenger vehicles nationwide, an average annual reduction effect of approximately 36 MtCO 2 can be expected. This figure corresponds to a reduction of approximately 30% in domestic transportation sector carbon emissions in 2024. This study is expected to have potential as a strategic indicator to start with, tailorable to the characteristics of each country’s transportation sector’s decarbonization processes.

Keywords: internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV); electric vehicle (EV); CO 2 emission; rental vehicles; greenhouse gas reduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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