Energy use and emissions of a range-extending hybrid electric vehicle

The desire to reduce urban air pollution and petroleum consumption has renewed interest in the development of electric vehicles. A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) may be a practical way to introduce electric vehicles in the near term. An HEV can have the ability of a pure electric vehicle to produce zero local emissions for short driving trips, while retaining the long range capability of a conventional combustion-powered vehicle.; Experiments were performed with the University of Alberta's range-extending hybrid research vehicle (HRV) in on-road driving conditions and in simulated conditions on a chassis dynamometer. The objective was to quantify the effects of introducing hybrid electric vehicles as replacements for current gasoline fueled automobiles. It is anticipated that widespread use of HEVs could significantly reduce petroleum consumption by shifting transportation energy use to electricity generated from other sources, and improve urban air quality by moving the production of pollutants to rural areas. However, it was found that with coal as a source of energy, the HRV requires about 5.0 MJ of coal energy per kilometre traveled. A similar conventional vehicle needs only 3.45 MJ of crude oil energy per kilometre. Also, operating the HRV from coal-generated electricity would increase emissions of CO{dollar}sb2,{dollar} NO{dollar}rmsb{lcub}x{rcub}{dollar} and SO{dollar}sb2,{dollar} although reductions in CO and HC emissions would be expected. Careful analysis of vehicle component efficiency is needed to properly predict the effects of HEV use.