Reducing the life cycle environmental impact of electric vehicles through emissions-responsive charging

Yuzhou Tang; Tim T Cockerill; Andrew J Pimm; Xueliang Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103499

Reducing the life cycle environmental impact of electric vehicles through emissions-responsive charging

iScience. 2021 Nov 22;24(12):103499. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103499. eCollection 2021 Dec 17.

Authors

Yuzhou Tang^{1

2}, Tim T Cockerill^{2

3}, Andrew J Pimm³, Xueliang Yuan¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Sustainable Development, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, 17923 Jingshi Road, Jinan 250061, China.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, UK.
³ School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, UK.

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are currently being promoted to reduce transport emissions. We present a life cycle assessment of EV charging behaviors based on marginal emissions factors. For Great Britain, we find that electricity consumption accounts for the highest proportion of life cycle carbon emissions from EVs. We highlight the potential life cycle carbon emissions reduction brought by charging during periods when the grid mix produces relatively low emissions. While our study focuses on Great Britain, we have applied our methodology to several European countries with contrasting electricity generation mixes. Our analysis demonstrates that countries with a high proportion of fossil energy will have reduced benefits from deploying EVs, but are likely to achieve increased benefits from smart charging approaches. We conclude that using marginal emissions factors is essential to understanding the greenhouse gas impacts of EV deployment, and that smart charging tied to instantaneous grid emissions factors can bring benefits.

Keywords: Charging behavior cluster; Demand side response; EV charging; Emissions factors; Life cycle assessment.