Researchers from the North Carolina State University (NC State) have found out that increased usage of electric drive passenger vehicles (EDVs) is not enough to reduce air pollution.
EDV is an umbrella term used to refer to battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and hybrid cars.
"We wanted to see how important EDVs may be over the next 40 years in terms of their ability to reduce emissions. We found that increasing the use of EDVs is not an effective way to produce large emissions reductions," said assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at NC State and lead author Dr. Joseph DeCarolis in the university press release.
To see the impact of the use of EDVs on emissions between 2014 and 2050, the researchers looked into 108 different scenarios using a powerful energy systems model. The tests on the model showed that there will be little to no reduction of the emission of key pollutants even if the use of EDVs will increase by 42 percent.
The model also showed that the public may be more inclined to use EDVs when they realize that batteries cost cheaper than oil. "That's consistent with results from other studies," DeCarolis said.
There are a number of factors which explains the insignificant reduction of emissions related to the use of EDVs. One is that the impact of the use of EDVs is being offset by higher emissions coming from power plants. Another reason is that the emission related to passenger vehicles is relatively small compared to the overall emissions from different sources.
"From a policy standpoint, this study tells us that it makes more sense to set emissions reductions goals, rather than promoting specific vehicle technologies with the idea that they'll solve the problem on their own," DeCarolis said.
The study was published on the online journal Environmental Science and Technology.
