Electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid energy efficiency and life cycle emissions

Abstract

Mobility is an important basis for many economic and private activities and thus a crucial part of our life. In many industrialised countries, the demand for mobility is mostly covered by road traffic. Modern vehicles and a well developed network of roads allow for a high degree of individual mobility. However, this mobility also leads to substantial environmental problems: In Germany, for instance, transport is responsible for over 20% of the energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The majority of these emissions are due to road traffic, which in turn is dominated by passenger transport (see Figure 1). Though CO2 emissions from road traffic and especially passenger cars are slightly decreasing in Germany since about 2000, this decrease is still limited. The associated consumption of fossil resources by road traffic not only contributes significantly to climate relevant CO2 emissions, but also faces limited resources and leads to political dependencies.