Assessing CO2 emissions of electric vehicles for e-sharing and home care. Two cases developed at Valencian region

Abstract

[EN] Assessing the environmental impact of transport has been an issue over the last decade. The general framework is established and the followings factors must be considered to obtain results as accurate as possible. Among others (a) the study should considered the entire life cycle if possible: building & materials, usage phase and waste treatment and (b) usage phase assessment must be developed under real conditions in addition to lab tests. When the object of study is urban private transport, some extra lines can be taken into account considering the high impact that environmental initiatives makes in society. The information that local authorities and community receives about the initiative is as relevant as the environmental benefits obtain of the implementation of the project. In this paper, we present the methodology developed to assess CO2 emissions of electric vehicles intendent to car-sharing and home care; two projects developed at Valencian region. We deepen in the relevance and type of information obtain and manage for both studies with a life cycle vision. As a result of usage phase assessment, field test proves to be revealing giving a more realistic vision of the benefits of the project. Theoretical assessments were useful to consider the implementation of a certain project and the necessary support complementing the entity of the study. Resources needed to develop field test might skew results by biasing the study. Attention need to be paid in order to manage resources to set up field tests and avoid setting up field tests due to available resources. Bibliographic studies have shown building, materials and waste treatment depends on available data. Life cycle assessment seems to be the most adequate tool to obtain accurate results although the cost of the assessment is high and might not show significant differences between cars of similar characteristics.