Page 0551 World Electric Vehicle Journal Vol. 3 - ISSN 2032-6653 - © 2009 AVERE Hybrid Electric Vehicles for Sustainable Transportation: A Canadian Perspective Mariam Khan1 and Narayan C. Kar2 Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Windsor Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract The demand for gasoline in Canada, especially by light-duty vehicles, continues to increase with economic growth and development. Fossil fuel driven vehicles are not only creating financial strain due to fluctuating gas prices but are also polluting the environment and posing health risks to the community. In an effort to promote public awareness, this paper reviews hybrid vehicle technology as a logical step towards sustain- able, efficient and environment friendly transportation and discusses the measures taken by the Canadian government to encourage hybrid vehicle sales and to minimize fossil fuel dependency of the transportation sector. Keywords: Canada, environment, hybrid electric vehicles, policies shift Canada’s transportation industry to sustain- 1 Introduction able, environment-friendly alternatives and to re- With increasing awareness towards economic view the current hybrid technology as an efficient and environmental concerns associated with fuel solution available to Canadian vehicle owners. The combustion in automobiles, the world is focusing policies, programs and incentives taken by the fed- towards the development of sustainable tech- eral and provincial governments to promote sus- nologies. The transportation sector is one of the tainable transportation and to encourage the public highest consumers of fossil fuels and the largest to adopt this green technology are also discussed in contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions detail. in Canada with gasoline sales constituting 40% of the country’s total domestic petroleum sales 2 Economic and Environmental [1]. This oil dependency, particularly light-duty vehicles, is responsible for a quarter of the total Impacts of Fossil Fuel Based GHG emissions in the country and has become a Vehicles source of economic stress with rising oil prices [2]. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) offer a fuel- 2.1 Increasing trends of global fuel prices efficient solution that combines an electric motor and CO2 emissions based drivetrain with the conventional internal Growth in on-road transportation is closely associ- combustion engine (ICE) to reduce fuel con- ated with the development of the global economy. sumption and vehicle emissions [3]-[5]. These Due to present worldwide trends in population in- HEV benefits have prompted the automakers to crease, expansion in international trade and eco- develop hybrid vehicles, most of which are avail- nomic development, the demand for heavy and able in Canada today. However consumer accep- light duty vehicles is on the rise. With close to 600 tance to hybrid vehicles remains low, mostly due million vehicles on road today, over the next forty to public unawareness of the performance and re- years, 800 million more people are expected to liability of HEV technology as well as the high own cars around the world. In 2002, light-duty ve- initial cost of hybrid cars. This paper attempts to hicles alone accounted for 23% of the total 77 mil- raise public understanding of the growing need to lion barrels of oil consumed per day in the world, EVS24 International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium 1 Page 0552 World Electric Vehicle Journal Vol. 3 - ISSN 2032-6653 - © 2009 AVERE and is expected to go as high as 32 million bar- assessment by World Health Organization states that rels per day by 2030 [6], making them one of the more than 2 million premature deaths occur due to major users of energy. This absolute dependence air pollution [7]. Owing to its adverse impact on of on-road transportation on the unsustainable re- the global economy and environment, and the pos- source of fossil fuels is beginning to raise serious sibility of complete exhaustion of reserves, use of concerns. With the current growth in industrial petroleum based vehicles is raising concern and is developments and transportation demands, espe- driving the research and industry sectors to look cially in developing countries, the finite fuel re- for alternative solutions. serves are depleting at an alarming rate and will one day run out. Another cause of concern is the 2.2 Effect of growth in light duty vehi- soaring gas prices that have increased exponen- cle transportation in Canada tially over the last few years due to rapid indus- Canada spreads over 9,984,670 km2, making it the trialization of growing economies, depletion of world’s second largest country by total area with a fuel reserves, political factors and speculations. population of 33.5 million. Canada's road network This high fuel cost not only influences the direct spans more than 1.4 million km over its ten prov- expense on transportation but also has a cascad- inces and three territories. It is home to the 7th ing effect on prices of all other commodities and largest auto industry in the world that employs services, creating stress on the economy. well over half a million people associated with Another hazard of fossil fuel combustion in vehi- automotive assembly, component manufacturing, cles is the expulsion of harmful emissions includ- distribution and aftermarket sales and services. ing carbon dioxide (CO ), nitrogen oxides (NO ), 2 x The industry produces about 2.7 million vehicles carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocar- every year and is a major contributor to the Cana- bons. Emission levels of CO , the principle 2 dian economy with a share of nearly 13% of its GHG, have steadily escalated corresponding to current manufacturing GDP of 176 billion dollars. the increasing fuel consumption particularly in In the midst of its progressive expansion in inter- the transportation sector. Figure 1 shows the national trade, economic development and popula- trend of worldwide CO emissions in the past 3 2 tion growth, the country is now facing a sharp rise decades. Although the emission trends of major in the demand for on-road transportation, particu- contributing countries do not show a drastic in- larly light-duty vehicles. In 2007, 1.6 million light- crease, the steady rise of CO is explained by the 2 duty vehicles were sold in Canada, increasing the industrialization of emerging economies. total number of light-duty vehicle registrations to The emissions and pollutants from fuel combus- more than 19 million from 16.8 million in 2000 as tion are not only considered responsible for cli- demonstrated in Fig. 2(a) [8]. Although this drastic mate change, but also degrade air quality that in growth in the transport sector is an indicator of a turn has a far reaching impact on human health. thriving economy, it has also grown to become the Air pollution is linked to cardiovascular and res- largest consumer of petroleum. The number of ve- piratory diseases and is a major environment- hicles on road today, though higher than ever be- related health threat especially to children. An fore, cannot be blamed entirely on high fuel con- sumption by the country’s transport sector. Can- + %& ada’s vast road network compels people to travel * ! %$ longer distances between its widespread cities. Ac- ) cording to Canada Vehicle Survey, light-duty ve- & , ( hicles travelled close to 300 billion kilometres in * 2007. As a result, motor gasoline sales have ' reached 42 billion litres [1] that constitutes 41% of ( & the country’s total domestic petroleum sales as % & shown in Fig. 2(b). Weather conditions in Canada ! also influence the amount of fuel consumption in $ $ & automobiles. While the coastal regions enjoy milder temperatures, most parts of the country, particularly the interior and Prairie provinces, ex- perience harsh winters forcing vehicle engines to burn more gas. Thus, due to the growth in the Ca- Figure 1: Worldwide CO2 emission from petroleum nadian transport sector and the vast and diverse consumption. geography along with long distances and harsh EVS24 International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium 2 Page 0553 World Electric Vehicle Journal Vol. 3 - ISSN 2032-6653 - © 2009 AVERE (a) (b) Figure 2: Growth in transport sector in Canada. (a) Light-duty vehicle registrations. (b) Motor gasoline sales and vehi- cle kilometres. Table 1: Status of Canada’s oil reserve as of 2007. ences the expenditure on transportation, produc- Reserves Production Country ing financial strain on vehicle owners, but also (billion bbl) (million bbl/d) has a cascading effect on the prices of all other Saudi Arabia 262 10.7 commodities and services, creating economic Canada 179 3.3 stress and financial uncertainties. Iran 136 4.1 Iraq 115 2 2.2.2 Degradation of air quality due to ve- Kuwait 102 2.7 hicular emissions UAE 98 2.9 Venezuela 80 2.9 An equally alarming consequence of petroleum Russia 60 9.7 combustion in the transportation sector is the Libya 42 1.8 emission of CO2, and toxic pollutants including Nigeria 36 2.4 CO, NOx, hydrocarbons and particulate matter that are known to produce adverse health effects. Canada is amongst the ten highest CO2 produc- weather, the transportation sector draws the larg- ing nations in the world with a per capita emis- est share of oil, making per capita fuel consump- sion close to 22 tonnes. tion in Canada higher than most industrialized In an effort to reduce these emissions, Canada is nations. systematically replacing coal based electricity generation with hydro and nuclear power plants. 2.2.1 Economic impact of fossil fuel based However, rapidly increasing methods of passen- transportation ger transportation and consumer trends shifting With the world’s second largest oil reserves of towards minivans, sport utility vehicles and small 179 billion bbl [9] and a production rate of 3.3 trucks have led to an increase in fuel consump- million bbl per day [10] as shown in Table 1, tion.