An Integrated Methodology for Evaluation of Electric Vehicles Under Sustainable Automotive Environment

Introduction

Transport sectors are the major consumer of world oil output, as well as a leading source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Worldwide, mainly the carbon di-oxide (CO₂). The transportation sector generates 28% of total GHG in the United States (US) (USEPA, 2014; Knittel, 2012). Objective of the Paris Agreement set of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2ºC above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels (UNFCCC, 2015b). Reducing use of fossil fuel energy and GHG emissions from transport sectors could consequently play an important role in solving both the global fossil fuel reduction and climate change challenges which the whole world faces. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are continually regarded as an important means of solving both problems. BEVs have the potential to make an important contribution to reduce greenhouse gases because of their potential to run with zero emissions when operating with electricity from renewable sources (United Nations, 2014; United Nations,1992, April 30-May 9). Global climate change has strengthened the need for sustainable development over the last few decades. Battery Electric vehicles will reduce the CO₂ footprint, pollution level and help challenge anthropogenic climate change (Dijk et al., 2013). Therefore, human factors research has focused more intensively on the interaction between humans and BEVs to better understand relevant factors i.e., range related user experience (Franke et al., 2015; Rauh et al., 2015), acceptance of BEVs (Bühler et al., 2014) and ways to increase and optimize the usage of BEVs. A sustainable balance is thus struck between limited resources and socio-environmental demands. With zero tailpipe emissions in the case of battery electric vehicles, EVs also offer a clean alternative to vehicles with internal combustion engines by helping to reduce exposure to air pollution resulting from fuel combustion and limiting noise. This is especially relevant in urban areas and along major transportation access. The relevance of EVs for the reduction of air pollution and noise is well demonstrated by the leading role that cities assume in promoting EV deployment, in 2015, nearly a third of global electric car sales took place in just 14 cities (Hall et al., 2017).

Alternate fuel vehicles are classified as EV, Solar powered vehicle, Hydrogen fuel vehicle, Ethanol and biodiesel fuel vehicle, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. EVs are further classified as Battery EV (BEV), Hybrid EV (HEV), Plug-in HEV (PHEV), Range Extender EV (REXEV) to name a few (Ajanovic & Haas, 2016). Vehicles run with hydrogen fuel by modified internal combustion (IC) engines. Bio-diesel is another source of sustainable fuel for IC engines and diesel engines run by biodiesel fuel. But in all the cases the combustion process would still cause some pollutants. However, BEVs are the zero emission vehicles at the point of use considering the dependence of fossil fuels in the other forms of EVs. The low carbon impact of EVs will be possible if electricity is generated from sustainable sources. As the fuel cells and solar vehicle also produce zero emission than that of IC engines it is likely that fuel cells and solar energy will eventually become the chosen option.