Environmental Benefits of Electric Transportation The transportation sector is now the largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and a major source of other, localized air pollutants, primarily nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter. Electrifying the transportation sector can provide substantial environmental benefits by reducing these emissions. Not only do electric vehicles (EVs) have no tailpipe emissions, the electricity that powers EVs is increasingly clean. EVs can bring the environmental benefits of a clean energy future to the transportation sector. The benefits of electric transportation are not limited just to electrified passenger vehicles. Fleet vehicles powered by electricity (e.g., buses and trucks) also reduce emissions and can improve local air quality. In addition, efforts to electrify ports serve to reduce emissions from shipping, and efforts to electrify truck stops help to address emissions from truck engine idling. The Electric Power Industry Is Leading the Way to a Clean Energy Future As of the end of 2017, the electric power sector had reduced its CO2 emissions by 28 percent below 2005 levels (see Figure 1). These emissions reductions will continue because many electric companies have made commitments to further reduce emissions over the next decade and beyond. Figure 1: Electric Power CO2 Emissions (MMT) Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, September 2018. The electric power sector’s emissions reductions are the result of a long-term transformation in the resources used to generate electricity (see Figure 2). This transformation is driven by various factors, including declining prices for natural gas and renewable energy, changing customer expectations, and various federal and state regulations and policies.
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Environmental Benefits of Electric Transportation The transportation sector is now the largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and a major source of other, localized air pollutants, primarily nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter. Electrifying the transportation sector can provide substantial environmental benefits by reducing these emissions. Not only do electric vehicles (EVs) have no tailpipe emissions, the electricity that powers EVs is increasingly clean. EVs can bring the environmental benefits of a clean energy future to the transportation sector. The benefits of electric transportation are not limited just to electrified passenger vehicles. Fleet vehicles powered by electricity (e.g., buses and trucks) also reduce emissions and can improve local air quality. In addition, efforts to electrify ports serve to reduce emissions from shipping, and efforts to electrify truck stops help to address emissions from truck engine idling.
The Electric Power Industry Is Leading the Way to a Clean Energy Future
As of the end of 2017, the electric power sector had reduced its CO2 emissions by 28 percent below 2005 levels (see Figure 1). These emissions reductions will continue because many electric companies have made commitments to further reduce emissions over the next decade and beyond.
Figure 1: Electric Power CO2 Emissions (MMT)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, September 2018.
The electric power sector’s emissions reductions are the result of a long-term transformation in the resources used to generate electricity (see Figure 2). This transformation is driven by various factors, including declining prices for natural gas and renewable energy, changing customer expectations, and various federal and state regulations and policies.
Environmental Benefits of Electric Transportation Edison Electric Institute
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The mix of resources used to generate electricity has changed significantly over the past decade. In 2017, carbon-free emissions resources, including renewable energy (such as wind, solar, and hydropower) and nuclear energy, generated more than one-third of the nation’s electricity. The share of electric generation coming from clean energy sources will continue to grow over the next decade.1
Figure 2: The Mix of Resources Used to Generate Electricity Has Changed Dramatically
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, March 2018. Because of declining CO2 emissions from the electric power sector, the transportation sector is now the largest source of CO2 emissions in the U.S. (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Electric Power and Transportation Sectors
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, September 2018.
Between 1990 and 2017, a period in which electricity use grew by 35 percent, the electric power sector cut emissions of NOx by 84 percent and SO2 by 92 percent (see Figure 4).
1 U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2018, February 2018, at: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/index.php.
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Figure 4: Electric Power Sector Air Emissions Decreased Significantly Since 1990
Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Bringing the Environmental Benefits of the Electric Power Sector’s Changing Energy Mix to the Transportation Sector
EVs produce zero direct tailpipe emissions. As a result, EVs help improve air quality in areas with significant vehicle traffic by reducing the volume of tailpipe emissions. This reduces localized emissions of NOx, SO2, and volatile organic compounds that form ozone (commonly called smog). Both gasoline-powered vehicles and EVs have “upstream emissions,” those associated with the generation or production of their fuel. In conventional vehicles, upstream emissions are determined by adding those emissions associated with the production, transportation, and refinement of the petroleum that is burned in the engine. Upstream emissions for EVs are determined by the mix of resources used to generate the electricity that charges the vehicle’s battery. Looking at the difference in fuel use—comparing an EV powered by the average U.S. electricity generation resource mix to the average gasoline vehicle—EVs emit 54 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions.2 Accordingly, increased electrification of the transportation sector leverages the environmental benefits of the electric power sector’s transformation to cleaner energy.
2 EEI, Electric Vehicle Trends and Key Issues, June 2018.
