Energy and Environmental Implications of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in China

Jianlei Lang, Shuiyuan Cheng, Ying Zhou, Beibei Zhao, Haiyan Wang and Shujing Zhang
Additional contact information
Jianlei Lang: College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Shuiyuan Cheng: College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Ying Zhou: College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Beibei Zhao: College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Haiyan Wang: College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Shujing Zhang: Beijing Municipal Institute of Labour Protection, Beijing 100054 China

Energies, 2013, vol. 6, issue 5, 1-23

Abstract: The promotion of hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) has been proposed as one promising solution for reducing transport energy consumption and mitigating vehicular emissions in China. In this study, the energy and environmental impacts of hybrid and EVs during 2010–2020 were evaluated through an energy conversion analysis and a life cycle assessment (LCA), and the per-kilometer energy consumptions of gasoline, coal, natural gas (NG), oil, biomass, garbage and electricity for EVs and HEVs were estimated. Results show that the EVs and HEVs can reduce the energy consumption of vehicles by national average ratios of 17%–19% and 30%–33%, respectively. The study also calculated the detailed emission factors of SO 2 , NO X , VOC, CO, NH 3 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 , OC, EC, CO 2 , N 2 O, CH 4 , Pb and Hg. It is indicated that the HEVs can bring significant reductions of NO X , VOC and CO emissions and lesser decreases of SO 2 and CO 2 for a single vehicle. The EVs could decrease many of the VOC, NH 3 , CO and CO 2 emissions, but increase the SO 2 , NO X and particles by 10.8–13.0, 2.7–2.9 and 3.6–11.5 times, respectively. In addition, the electricity sources had significant influence on energy consumption (EC) and emissions. A high proportion of coal-fired energy resulted in large ECs and emission factors. The total energy consumption and pollutants emission changes in 2015 and 2020 were also calculated. Based on the energy use and emission analysis of HEVs and EVs, it is suggested that EVs should be promoted in the regions with higher proportions of hydropower, natural gas-fired power and clean energy power, while HEVs can be widely adopted in the regions with high coal-fired power ratios. This is to achieve a higher energy consumption reduction and pollutant emission mitigation. Moreover, the results can also provide scientific support for the total amount control of regional air pollutants in China.

Keywords: air pollutants; greenhouse gases; emission factors; energy consumption; policy assessment (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: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/5/2663/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/5/2663/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:5:p:2663-2685:d:25900

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().