Open AccessFrom lab-to-road: real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
Author(s) -
Patrick Plötz,
Cornelius Moll,
Georg Bieker,
Peter Mock
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
environmental research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.37
H-Index - 124
ISSN - 1748-9326
DOI - 10.1088/1748-9326/abef8c
Subject(s) - greenhouse gas , electricity , environmental science , fuel efficiency , automotive engineering , range (aeronautics) , incentive , environmental economics , electric vehicle , consumption (sociology) , combustion , driving cycle , internal combustion engine , business , engineering , electrical engineering , economics , power (physics) , ecology , social science , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , aerospace engineering , sociology , biology , microeconomics
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) combine an electric motor with an internal combustion engine and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport if mainly driven on electricity. The environmental benefit of PHEVs strongly depends on usage and charging behaviour. However, there is limited evidence on how much PHEVs actually drive on electricity and how much conventional fuel they use in real-world operation. Here, we provide the first systematic empirical analysis of real-world usage and fuel consumption (FC) of approximately 100 000 vehicles in China, Europe, and North America. We find that real-world mean CO 2 emissions of PHEVs are between 50 and 300 g CO 2 km −1 depending on all-electric range, user group and country. For private vehicles, real-world CO 2 emissions are two to four times higher than test cycle values. The high CO 2 emissions and FC mainly result from low charging frequency, i.e. less than once per driving day. Our results demonstrate the importance of real-world vehicle emission measurements and indicate the need to adjust current PHEV policies, i.e. official emission values need to better reflect realistic electric driving shares and incentives need to put more emphasis on frequent charging.