Abstracts Transportation

Using Incremental Emissions Factors to Evaluate the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Electric Vehicle Deployment

by Adam Robert Parker

As governments seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, emissions from electric vehicle (EV) charging have been a focal point of study to assess whether EVs represent an opportunity for improvement over gasoline vehicles. Using a Unit Commitment dispatch model for Canadian provinces with GTHA EV demand profiles, electricity dispatch results are presented for 4 representative months to model the response of the grid to added EV demand. These results are used to generate incremental emissions factors (IEFs), based on the difference in emissions over generation between different EV penetration scenarios. It is shown how IEFs can better capture the complex response of the grid than equivalent regression based marginal emissions factors from historical data. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the IEF approach, as well as challenges that arose from the use of dispatch models.