118 Timothy E. Lipman and Mark A.

Delucchi

described below as being among the key sources of information for comparing emissions
of different types of EVs. Other studies have examined more specific vehicle and fuel
pathways involving EVs with regard to their GHG emissions, but that still have yielded
interesting insights. Several of these are also discussed in this chapter.

3. FORMATION OF GHG EMISSIONS FROM EV FUEL CYCLES

A key feature of GHG emissions from the production of transportation fuels and
electricity is that emissions of CO2 are comparatively easy to estimate: they can be
approximated as the carbon content of the fuel multiplied by 3.66 (the ratio of the
molecular mass of CO2 to the molecular mass of carbon), on the assumption that
virtually all of the carbon in fuel oxidizes to CO2.
In contrast, combustion emissions of all the other GHGs are a function of many
complex aspects of combustion dynamics (such as temperature, pressure, and air-to-fuel
ratio) and of the type of emission control systems used, and hence cannot be derived
from one or two basic characteristics of a fuel. Instead, one must use published emission
factors for each combination of fuel, end-use technology, combustion conditions, and
emission control system. Likewise, noncombustion emissions of GHGs (e.g., gas flared at
oil fields or N2O produced and emitted from fertilized soils), cannot be derived from
basic fuel properties, and instead must be measured and estimated source-by-source and
gas-by-gas. Lipman and Delucchi [18] provide a compendium of many of these emission
factors, but we note that some of them have been updated based on more recent data
than were available at the time that study was published.
As indicated above, GHG emissions from the life cycle of fuels for BEVs and H2 fuel
cell EVs are entirely in the form of upstream emissions, with no emission from the
vehicles themselves (except for water vapor in the case of FCVs). As such, the GHG
emissions from battery and fuel cell EVs are entirely related to the production of
electricity or H2. Emissions from electricity generation processes are generally well
known and well studied; this is less true for H2 production but in most cases these
emissions are well understood as well. Some novel H2 production methods, and those
that are based on conversion from biofuels, have somewhat complex and certainly not
completely understood and established levels of emissions of GHGs.
In contrast, for PHEVs, emissions are a complex combination of upstream and in-use
emissions. Emissions from these vehicles are more complex than for conventional
vehicles or EVs, because these vehicles combine features of internal combustion engine
vehicles (ICEVs) with those of EVs. Various vehicle design and operational strategies are
available for PHEVs, and these can have important emissions implications. For example,
PHEVs can be designed to be either “charge depleting (CD)” or “charge sustaining
(CS)” and this affects the relative levels of electricity and gasoline used. (See Gonder and
Markel [19] and Katrasnik [20] for further discussion of operating strategies for PHEVs.)