Hidden benefits of electric vehicles for addressing climate change

Li, Canbing; Cao, Yijia; Zhang, Mi; Wang, Jianhui; Liu, Jianguo; Shi, Haiqing; Geng, Yinghui

doi:10.1038/srep09213

Title: Hidden benefits of electric vehicles for addressing climate change

Journal Article · Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09213· OSTI ID:1194167

Li, Canbing ^[1]; Cao, Yijia ^[2]; Zhang, Mi ^[2]; Wang, Jianhui ^[3]; Liu, Jianguo ^[4]; Shi, Haiqing ^[2]; Geng, Yinghui ^[2]

Hunan Univ., Changsha (China); Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Hunan Univ., Changsha (China)
Hunan Univ., Changsha (China); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)

There is an increasingly hot debate on whether the replacement of conventional vehicles (CVs) by electric vehicles (EVs) should be delayed or accelerated since EVs require higher cost and cause more pollution than CVs in the manufacturing process. Here we reveal two hidden benefits of EVs for addressing climate change to support the imperative acceleration of replacing CVs with EVs. As EVs emit much less heat than CVs within the same mileage, the replacement can mitigate urban heat island effect (UHIE) to reduce the energy consumption of air conditioners, benefitting local and global climates. To demonstrate these effects brought by the replacement of CVs by EVs, we take Beijing, China, as an example. EVs emit only 19.8% of the total heat emitted by CVs per mile. The replacement of CVs by EVs in 2012 could have mitigated the summer heat island intensity (HII) by about 0.94°C, reduced the amount of electricity consumed daily by air conditioners in buildings by 14.44 million kilowatt-hours (kWh), and reduced daily CO₂ emissions by 10,686 tonnes.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1194167

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 37 works

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