Urban air mobility (UAM) operations provide the potential for more, or more attractive, trips in a metropolitan area relative to wholly surface-based transportation. But the emissions produced by a UAM mode must be studied in relation to these benefits. In this paper, an emissions model for the UAM context using electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is developed that incorporates CO₂ gases emitted from the electricity production required to charge the vehicle batteries. The model quantifies trip emissions using UAM for part or all of the trip and compares these with automobile-based trips. The estimations consider using gasoline and electric automobiles, with the impact of autonomy and average ground speeds in traffic. Trip case studies in the Chicago and Dallas metropolitan areas showcase the regional differences when using UAM and different automobile technology scenarios. In particular, differences stemming from how electricity generation from power grids (i.e., grid emission index) contributes to CO₂ emissions of eVTOL trips and electric automobile trips in the Chicago and Dallas metropolitan areas are computed. This paper introduces trip properties called the surface-to-air distance ratio and the detour ratio to understand how they influence the CO₂ emissions of a trip. Results from the simulation on identified trip cases in Chicago and Dallas illustrate the significant impact of the grid emission index of a region’s power plant on the emissions of electric vehicles.

与完全基于地面的交通方式相比，城市空中交通（UAM）运营在大都市地区提供了更多或更具吸引力的出行潜力。但是，必须针对这些益处来研究UAM模式产生的排放。在本文中，开发了使用电动垂直起降（eVTOL）飞机的UAM背景下的排放模型，该模型结合了CO ₂电力生产所产生的气体需要给车辆电池充电。该模型使用UAM对部分或全部行程进行量化，并将其与基于汽车的行程进行比较。该估算考虑使用汽油和电动汽车，这会影响自主性和交通中的平均地面速度。芝加哥和达拉斯市区的旅行案例研究显示了使用UAM和不同汽车技术方案时的地区差异。尤其是，电网产生的电量（即电网排放指数）对CO _2的贡献所产生的差异计算了芝加哥和达拉斯市区的eVTOL行程和电动汽车行程的排放量。本文介绍了行程属性，称为地对空距离比和and回比，以了解它们如何影响行程的CO ₂排放。对芝加哥和达拉斯已确定的出行情况的仿真结果表明，该地区发电厂的电网排放指数对电动汽车的排放产生了重大影响。