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What Are Alternative Fuel Vehicles? and the Environment

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What Are Alternative Fuel Vehicles? and the Environment Executive Summary October 2011 190 N Independence Mall West 8th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106 215-592-1800 Ready to Roll? Overview of Challenges and Opportunities for Alternative Fuel Vehicles www.dvrpc.org in the Delaware Valley DVRPC’s “Ready to Roll?” report provides an overview for policy-makers and citizens in the Greater Philadelphia region about the challenges and opportunities for expanded use of alternative fuel vehicles. The full report can be found in the publications section of www.dvrpc.org. What are Alternative Fuel Vehicles? and the environment. These emissions and other air Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) use combinations of toxins can be reduced by improved vehicle technology vehicle fuels and technologies to reduce the use of and cleaner burning fuels. petroleum in on-road vehicles. These include low-carbon fuels (sometimes blended with petroleum), electricity, • Improved national security and a stronger domestic and hybrid technologies combining internal combustion economy from reduced dependence on foreign oil engines with electric motors. The AFVs covered in this supplies: In 2005, the Greater Philadelphia region report include those most widely available today or likely used more than 2 billion gallons of gasoline and 392 to become available in the next ten to twenty years. million gallons of diesel fuel. At today’s prices, this These fall into three broad types: costs regional consumers over $8 billion annually. Most of this fuel is from oil imported into the United 1: Vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine (ICE): States, and all of it is from outside the region. The Low carbon fuels, such as biofuels or biofuel blends, use of AFVs presents an opportunity to produce and compressed natural gas, and propane can be used to distribute fuels and vehicle technologies domestically, power traditional ICE vehicles, and in the case of biofuels thereby strengthening the opportunity to retain locally require little or no engine modifications. the billions of dollars spent on imported vehicle fuel. 2: Vehicles powered by a battery-driven electric motor: • Reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: On-road Electric motor-powered vehicles use batteries charged by transportation accounts for a quarter of our region’s plugging into the electric grid, or by electricity produced annual greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, on-board using an ICE-powered generator or hydrogen for every five pounds of tailpipe emissions, an fuel cell. additional pound of GHG emissions associated with the extraction, production, and distribution of the fuel 3: Hybrid electric vehicles: Hybrid electric vehicles are is created. AFVs have the potential to significantly driven by both an electric motor and an ICE, with a decrease these emissions. transmission that draws on one or the other as required. The figures on pages 4 and 5 illustrate a number of • Reduced long-term driving costs: The use of AFVs configurations. has the potential to reduce operating costs of driving. Vehicle maintenance costs are expected to be lower Benefi ts of Alternative Fuel Vehicles: with some AFVs. Additionally, although many of On-road transportation—which accounts for close to the fuels used to power AFVs are currently more one-third of Greater Philadelphia’s total energy use—is expensive than petroleum-based fuels, a diversified almost completely dependent on petroleum. Expanded fuel mix may lower price volatility associated with the use of AFVs is a key strategy for reducing petroleum use use of foreign oil supplies. in our region. The benefits to doing so include: Barriers for Alternative Fuel Vehicles: • Reduced air pollution from the combustion of fossil Despite the benefits of AFVs outlined above, there are fuels: The Greater Philadelphia region is a designated significant barriers to their expanded use. The issues and air quality “non-attainment” area, meaning that it does challenges associated with the use of AFVs are shared to not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards some degree by most, if not all, AFVs. (NAAQS) outlined by the U.S. EPA in the Clean Air Act for pollutants considered harmful to public health 2 Generally, these issues include: The second challenge is for electric vehicles: Battery charging currently takes significantly longer than • The relative cost, convenience, and availability refueling (hours as opposed to minutes), which poses of alternative fuel vehicles compared to traditional significant challenges for siting charging stations in petroleum-based internal combustion technology: locations conducive to longer refueling times (e.g., In order for AFVs to be selected by consumers home and work). over traditional gasoline or diesel powered internal combustion engines, the cost, convenience, and • Energy storage: Some fuels used to power AFVs availability of both the fuel and vehicle must be present challenging storage hurdles. Energy competitive with traditional vehicles. Consumers density—the amount of energy stored in a given are used to the long driving range, lower cost, volume or weight of fuel—is lower for most alternative convenience, and availability of refueling that gasoline fuels than it is for gasoline or diesel. This limits the and diesel fueled vehicles provide. Currently, none amount of energy that can be carried on the vehicle. of the AFVs studied in the report—with the possible Energy capacity is particularly challenging for heavy exception of some hybrid electric vehicles—can trucks; there are currently no viable technologies to readily compete on these parameters with traditional replace ICEs for long distance trucking. gasoline and diesel fuels. • The environmental and national security impact of The development of distribution, storage, and • fuel production: The production of fuels for AFVs refueling/charging infrastructure: Fuels for AFVs can (including electricity) can be achieved with lower be inexpensively transported from point of production environmental impact than gasoline, and be sourced to distribution through pipeline infrastructure (or domestically. However, some current methods wires, in the case of electricity). However, there of production have an environmental impact are two challenges: first, the existing petroleum and comparable to that of traditional petroleum fuels. natural gas pipeline networks and refueling stations In addition, some technologies—particularly for are not compatible with many fuels used to power batteries—require materials that may not be widely AFVs, including ethanol, hydrogen, and biodiesel. available domestically. Parallel pipeline and refueling station infrastructure will need to be developed. Figure 1: Summary of Alternative Fuel Vehicle Issues Vehicle Range Refueling Type Cost Refueling time for biodiesel and ethanol blends is comparable to diesel and Comparable to Slightly more expensive gasoline. However, the distribution and refueling infrastructure required for conventional than counterpart fossil fuel Ethanol ethanol and biodiesel is not fully compatible with the existing system. This vehicle on a gallon equivalency Biofuels will require investments in new fueling infrastructure. As a result, there is basis. BioDiesel limited access to refueling stations for biodiesel and ethanol. Natural gas costs less than gasoline Vehicle Range Similar to biodiesel and ethanol, the refueling time for natural gas and and diesel on a gasoline gallon CNG is low compared propane is comparable to gasoline and diesel. While pipeline infrastructure INTERNAL equivalent (GGE) basis. Propane COMBUSTION to conventional has been developed for natural gas, refueling stations are rare. Natural gas ENGINE costs more than gasoline and less Fossil Fuels Propane vehicle and propane may be best suited for fleets of limited range. than diesel on a GGE basis. Vehicle Range Refueling times for grid charged electric vehicles is typically 4 to 12 hours Grid electricity is lower in Electric Grid is very low depending on voltage. A 30 minute “quick charge” to 80% is possible at cost than gasoline. On-board ELECTRIC compared to high voltages. The location of refueling stations is problematic. On-board ICE costs are low, on-board MOTOR conventional charging systems have short refueling times, although hydrogen fueling is hydrogen fuel cells have vehicle* challenging due to volume required for gas tanks. high cost. Hydrogen Vehicle Range is Electric Grid comparable with Lower fuel cost due to higher conventional Same as for conventional vehicle. fuel economy. Higher vehicle + vehicle cost. HYBRID Gasoline/ MOTOR Diesel *Nissan Leaf: 73 miles; Chevy Volt: 35 miles (without ICE assist) Source: DVRPC 3 Schematic of Alternative Vehicle Components Gasoline/ BLENDS Diesel up to 100% Ethanol IDLE BioDiesel STOP ON-BOARD ELECTRICITY CNG GENERATION Propane INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Electric Grid BATTERY ELECTRIC -lead-acid MOTOR -nickel-metal hydride FUEL -lithium ion Hydrogen CELL -other DRIVE TRAIN REGENERATIVE BRAKING The diagram in Figure 2 above provides a simplified overview of or they can work together in a hybrid electric vehicle. Two other the relationship between the most common alternative fuel vehicle technologies are shown as well. The first is regenerative braking, (AFV) technologies. Fuel/energy sources are shown on the left. which uses the energy of stopping the car to charge the battery. Listed first are liquid fuels (gasoline, ethanol, and biodiesel) The second is “idle stop,” which stops the engine when the vehicle and gases (natural gas and propane) that are burned in internal
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