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Well-to-wheels greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions from battery electric vehicles in China

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Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) play a crucial role in addressing climate change and urban air quality concerns. China has emerged as the global largest EV market with 1.2 million EVs sold in 2018. This study established a novel life cycle energy use and emission inventory collecting up-to-date data including the electricity generation mix, emission controls in the power and industrial sectors, and the energy use in the fuel transport to estimate the well-to-wheels (WTW) greenhouse gas (GHG), and air pollutant emissions for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and gasoline passenger vehicles in China. The results show that an average BEV has 35% lower WTW GHG emissions than an average gasoline car. BEVs reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions by 98% and 34%, respectively, but have comparable or slightly higher primary fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. Compact and small-size vehicles generally have lower GHG and air pollutant emissions than mid- and large-size vehicles. Class A vehicles contribute the most in the absolute amount of GHG and air pollutant emissions and therefore have the biggest potential for emission reduction. Our results suggest that global policymakers should continue to promote the transition to clean power sources, emission control, and fuel economy regulations, which are critical to enhancing emission mitigation benefits of BEVs. We also suggest EV development strategies should be formulated targeting vehicle class with the biggest emission mitigation potentials.

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Acknowledgments

This work is conducted in compliance with the China Society of Automotive Engineers (C-SAE) group standard T/CSAE 91-2018 (Life cycle assessment methods for greenhouse gases and air pollutant emissions of the automobile) released in September 2018.

Funding

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (fund NO. 2017YFC0212100).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yali Zheng and Xiaoyi He contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. China Society of Automotive Engineers, 4F Tianlian Building, Lianhuachi East Rd., Xicheng District, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yali Zheng & Binggang Wang

  2. School of Environment, and State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Xiaoyi He, Shaojun Zhang, Dong Ma & Ye Wu

  3. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Dana Bldg. 440 Church, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1041, USA

    Xiaoyi He

  4. State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Hewu Wang

  5. Systems Assessment Group, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA

    Michael Wang

  6. Vehicle Emission Control Center, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Vehicle Emission Control and Simulation, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China

    Dong Ma

  7. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ye Wu

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  1. Yali Zheng
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Correspondence to Ye Wu.

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Zheng, Y., He, X., Wang, H. et al. Well-to-wheels greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions from battery electric vehicles in China. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 25, 355–370 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-019-09890-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-019-09890-5

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