Drivers in the US have similar charging habits. While some official EU estimates assume that drivers use electricity about 70 to 85% of the time, self-reported data show that the share for personal cars is closer to 45 to 50%. “There’s a large gap between what is assumed in regulation and what the real performance looks like,” says Zifei Yang, head of light-duty vehicles at the ICCT. Cold weather can limit the range, so he tends to use more gasoline in the winter, he adds.ĭrivers of plug-in hybrids can vary widely in their habits, however. He plugs in his vehicle every day when he gets home, which usually provides enough power to get him to and from work. “I’m not necessarily a representative example of how someone uses the vehicle, but my plug-in hybrid is an electric vehicle for nine months of the year,” Gohlke says. Most new plug-in hybrids today have a range of between 30 and 50 miles on electricity, which is enough for many people’s daily commuting needs, says David Gohlke, an energy and environment analyst at Argonne National Laboratory. In ideal cases, the vehicles can use electricity for most of their mileage. Gas-powered vehicles in the US have higher fuel consumption, so there’s a bigger impact from switching to electricity.ĭriving and charging habits are at the heart of the debate over plug-in hybrids: the vehicles’ climate effects, depending on how they’re used. The difference between the US and other markets in the climate impact of plug-in hybrids, Bieker says, largely comes down to driving habits. Plug-in hybrid vehicles can offer significant emissions savings too: as much as 46% (compared with gas-powered vehicles) in the US. For example, EVs that hit the road in China in 2030 could produce 64% less in lifetime emissions than a gas car, compared with a maximum saving of 45% today. The gap between EVs and gas-powered vehicles is only expected to grow as the grid comes to be powered more by renewables and less by fossil fuels like coal. In China, where the grid is powered by a higher fraction of highly polluting coal power, cuts are lower, between 37% and 45%. In Europe, savings are higher, between 66% and 69%. Total emissions from EVs also depend on the sources of electricity used to charge their batteries.ĮVs in the US correspond to between 60% and 68% lower lifetime emissions than gas-powered vehicles. A significant fraction of an EV’s emissions are attributable to manufacturing, especially the production of their batteries. Not surprisingly, electric vehicles produce less in lifetime carbon emissions than their gas-powered counterparts. The answer largely depends on driving and charging habits, says Georg Bieker, a researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). Plug-in hybrids and EVs can be responsible for more significant emissions cuts, though figuring out exactly how much they’re helping the climate can be an involved exercise. Hybrid vehicles are a straightforward story when it comes to climate effects: switching from a fully gas-powered vehicle to a hybrid version of the same model will mean reducing emissions about 20% while driving. The Prius Prime, introduced in 2012, is a plug-in hybrid.Ĭonventional hybrids are far more common in the US than either all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, though sales of electric vehicles have grown quickly over the past several years. Plug-in hybrids can typically run 25 to 50 miles on electricity, switching over to their gasoline engine for longer distances. Plug-in hybrid vehicles, on the other hand, have a battery about 10 times larger than the one in a traditional hybrid, and that battery can be plugged in and charged using electricity. The original Toyota Prius models are among the most familiar traditional hybrid vehicles. Rather, the battery helps boost gas mileage and can provide extra torque. They cannot drive more than a couple of miles on battery power, and slowly at that. Conventional hybrid electric vehicles have a small battery that helps the gas-powered engine by recapturing energy during driving, like the energy that would otherwise be lost during braking. Two different categories of vehicles are referred to as hybrids. But in recent interviews, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has raised doubts about just how fast the auto industry can pull a U-turn on fossil fuels, calling the US target of making EVs reach half of new car sales by 2030 a “tough ask.” While Toyota plans for EV sales to reach 3.5 million by 2030 (or 35% of its current annual sales), the company also sees hybrids as an affordable option customers will want, and one that can play a key role in cutting emissions.
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