Environmental impact assessment for electric vehicles

Abstract

In recent years we have observed a significant increase in the number of cars in use. Most of them are vehicles powered by liquid fuels. Unfortunately, with the increasing intensity of car use, the amount of pollution generated in the transport sector is also increasing. In order to reduce the harmful impact on the environment, multi-track actions are necessary to reduce emissions from burning liquid fuels. One of such actions is presented concept of the operation of electric vehicles on the example of a local businessman and determination of ecological assessment indicators for the analysed solution. The simulations demonstrate that the changes in the transport fleet of the local enterprise will not bring about a reduction in pollution, but on the contrary, it will increase the total emission of pollutants by about 20%. This is due to the fact that electric energy for battery charging comes mainly from burning fossil fuels in domestic conditions. A positive impact on the environment was observed only when electric vehicles were powered from a specially selected photovoltaic installation dedicated to the needs of the customer working in a mixed system. The introduction of the electromobilical fleet in connection with the investment in PV installations allowed to avoid CO2 emissions by 44 Mg per year.