Exploring the suitability of electric vehicles in the United States

Authored by Mehdi Noori, Yang Zhao, Nuri C Onat, Omer Tatari, Murat Kucular, Mikhail Chester

Date Published: 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.01.035

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

This study explores suitability of battery electric vehicles in the United States by considering their potential market share and operations costs as well as the state-specific variations in electricity generation profiles, given current government policies and the social acceptability of the technology. A performance assessment is developed to compare each state and identify major policy efforts that are needed to increase the environmental and economic competitiveness of electric vehicles. A novel multi-criteria decision-support framework, integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Data Envelopment Analysis, and Agent Based Modeling, is developed. To this end, the environmental and economic impacts of battery electric vehicles are calculated based on three scenarios: an average electricity generation mix, a marginal electricity generation mix, and a solely renewable energy mix with 100\% solar. The states are classified, each requiring different policy strategies, in accordance with their performance scores. The results provide important insights for advancing transportation policies and a novel framework for multi-criteria decision-making in the future analyses. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Tags
Agent Based Modeling data envelopment analysis Life-cycle assessment Environmental impacts Plug-in hybrid Sustainability assessment Life cycle assessment Energy policy Sustainable transportation Transportation policy Multi-criteria decision support Eco-efficiency assessment Operational efficiency Manufacturing sectors Footprint analysis Frontier approach