Often, when talking about electric powered vehicles, one wonders if transferring emissions from conventional cars to emissions from power plants will actually improve things on greenhouse gas emissions.
To answer this question, we must first consider the CO2 emissions from different networks, expressed in grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. These values can be obtained from the statistics departments or departments of energy or the environment in different countries or states, or through the state utilities (EDF in France and Quebec Hydro-Quebec).
However, emissions of greenhouse gas emissions data by these agencies or corporations are often those resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants themselves. Missing emissions from oil and gas mining, to get the various underground fuels, including uranium for nuclear power plants. These figures do not include either the transformation of raw materials and transportation, or construction of power plants. It also lacks the emissions that result from the decomposition of submerged trees in reservoirs of hydroelectric dams. To account for these aspects, we must conduct a study of the life cycle of a kilowatt hour of electricity, grounding plug. Various studies tell us, basically, to add 15% of emissions for oil and coal and 25% for natural gas. In terms of power nuclear, there are usually 15 gCO2/kWh, and we must add 18 gCO2/kWh for hydroelectric dams. In doing so, we get to California, the United States, France, Canada and Quebec emission intensities in the following table.
now a midsize car to electric drive, built in 2009 with the best technology available commercially, consumes about 17 km from kWh/100 electricity stored in its battery. Moreover, with wheel motors, relief of the car and improved aerodynamics, consumption should be reduced kWh/100 to 12 km of electricity stored in the battery, say around 2020. But to assess the CO2 emissions, we assume a consumption of 15 kWh/100 km from the electricity stored in the battery. We add 6% for the losses of the outlet (AC) electricity stored in the battery (DC), bringing to 16 the actual consumption kWh/100 km, central to the wheels. For CO2 emissions of the electric car, simply multiply this by the actual consumption of network programming in the previous table.
The results are presented on the graph at the beginning of this post. There is also CO2 emissions from petrol cars for comparison purposes. The midsize car gas of 1500 kg (thick blue line) is equivalent to the electric car through which we made the calculations show.
For CO2 emissions of conventional cars, we assume that gasoline is burnt, which releases 2.36 kg of CO2 per liter. It takes account of CO2 released from oil wells in tank car, adding 15%, which corresponds to the assessments of various studies on the subject.
It is interesting to note that United States, with a fleet of power plants that burn fossil fuels to produce electricity 70% (50% coal and 20% of natural gas plants) , CO2 emissions of an electric car is still better than a car consumes 5 litres/100km like a Prius. In France and Quebec, including electric cars emit far less greenhouse gas than a Prius, as can be seen.
Quebec is in fact a privileged place quadrupling to establish electric mobility America, due to
- the substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that result,
- with plenty of power found there and its renewable nature ,
- its low cost ($ 0.07/kWh),
- and significant savings on oil imports (100% of import)
To better see the difference between various types power plants, the following chart shows the CO2 emissions of an electric car through which the battery is recharged with electricity from various types of plants.
The calculation method is identical to the previous graph, except the intensity of emissions that are no longer those networks together, in different places, but the emission intensity GHG various types of plants, land to the outlet. The following table summarizes the results obtained using the computer lifecycle GHGenius developed by Natural Resources Canada (www.ghgenius.ca).
So as you can see, CO2 emissions electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid electric mode are still considerably lower than those of conventional vehicles using petroleum fuels. The last graph also shows the importance of using renewable energy to reduce our emissions drastically .
To answer this question, we must first consider the CO2 emissions from different networks, expressed in grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. These values can be obtained from the statistics departments or departments of energy or the environment in different countries or states, or through the state utilities (EDF in France and Quebec Hydro-Quebec).
However, emissions of greenhouse gas emissions data by these agencies or corporations are often those resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants themselves. Missing emissions from oil and gas mining, to get the various underground fuels, including uranium for nuclear power plants. These figures do not include either the transformation of raw materials and transportation, or construction of power plants. It also lacks the emissions that result from the decomposition of submerged trees in reservoirs of hydroelectric dams. To account for these aspects, we must conduct a study of the life cycle of a kilowatt hour of electricity, grounding plug. Various studies tell us, basically, to add 15% of emissions for oil and coal and 25% for natural gas. In terms of power nuclear, there are usually 15 gCO2/kWh, and we must add 18 gCO2/kWh for hydroelectric dams. In doing so, we get to California, the United States, France, Canada and Quebec emission intensities in the following table.
now a midsize car to electric drive, built in 2009 with the best technology available commercially, consumes about 17 km from kWh/100 electricity stored in its battery. Moreover, with wheel motors, relief of the car and improved aerodynamics, consumption should be reduced kWh/100 to 12 km of electricity stored in the battery, say around 2020. But to assess the CO2 emissions, we assume a consumption of 15 kWh/100 km from the electricity stored in the battery. We add 6% for the losses of the outlet (AC) electricity stored in the battery (DC), bringing to 16 the actual consumption kWh/100 km, central to the wheels. For CO2 emissions of the electric car, simply multiply this by the actual consumption of network programming in the previous table.
The results are presented on the graph at the beginning of this post. There is also CO2 emissions from petrol cars for comparison purposes. The midsize car gas of 1500 kg (thick blue line) is equivalent to the electric car through which we made the calculations show.
For CO2 emissions of conventional cars, we assume that gasoline is burnt, which releases 2.36 kg of CO2 per liter. It takes account of CO2 released from oil wells in tank car, adding 15%, which corresponds to the assessments of various studies on the subject.
It is interesting to note that United States, with a fleet of power plants that burn fossil fuels to produce electricity 70% (50% coal and 20% of natural gas plants) , CO2 emissions of an electric car is still better than a car consumes 5 litres/100km like a Prius. In France and Quebec, including electric cars emit far less greenhouse gas than a Prius, as can be seen.
Quebec is in fact a privileged place quadrupling to establish electric mobility America, due to
- the substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that result,
- with plenty of power found there and its renewable nature ,
- its low cost ($ 0.07/kWh),
- and significant savings on oil imports (100% of import)
To better see the difference between various types power plants, the following chart shows the CO2 emissions of an electric car through which the battery is recharged with electricity from various types of plants.
The calculation method is identical to the previous graph, except the intensity of emissions that are no longer those networks together, in different places, but the emission intensity GHG various types of plants, land to the outlet. The following table summarizes the results obtained using the computer lifecycle GHGenius developed by Natural Resources Canada (www.ghgenius.ca). 
So as you can see, CO2 emissions electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid electric mode are still considerably lower than those of conventional vehicles using petroleum fuels. The last graph also shows the importance of using renewable energy to reduce our emissions drastically .
