Market Potential and Impacts of Alternative Fuel Use in Light-Duty Vehicles: A 2000/2010 Analysis

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis M. Fulton
Author(s):  
Parisa Bastani ◽  
John B. Heywood ◽  
Chris Hope

On-road transportation contributes 22% of the total CO2 emissions and more than 44% of oil consumption in the U.S. Technological advancements and use of alternative fuels are often suggested as ways to reduce these emissions. However, many parameters and relationships that determine the future characteristics of the light-duty vehicle fleet and how they change over time are inherently uncertain. Policy makers need to make decisions today given these uncertainties, to shape the future of light-duty vehicles. Decision makers thus need to know the impact of uncertainties on the outcome of their decisions and the associated risks. This paper explores a carefully constructed detailed pathway that results in a significant reduction in fuel use and GHG emissions in 2050. Inputs are assigned realistic uncertainty bounds, and the impact of uncertainty on this pathway is analyzed. A novel probabilistic fleet model is used here to quantify the uncertainties within advanced vehicle technology development, and life-cycle emissions of alternative fuels and renewable sources. Based on the results from this study, the expected fuel use is about 500 and 350 billion litres gasoline equivalent, with a standard deviation of about 40 and 80 billion litres in years 2030 and 2050 respectively. The expected CO2 emissions are about 1,360 and 840 Mt CO2 equivalent with a spread of about 130 and 260 Mt CO2 equivalent in 2030 and 2050 respectively. Major contributing factors in determining the future fuel consumption and emissions are also identified and include vehicle scrappage rate, annual growth of vehicle kilometres travelled in the near term, total vehicle sales, fuel consumption of naturally-aspirated engines, and percentage of gasoline displaced by cellulosic ethanol. This type of analysis allows policy makers to better understand the impact of their decisions and proposed policies given the technological and market uncertainties that we face today.


2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa Bastani ◽  
John B. Heywood ◽  
Chris Hope

On-road transportation contributes 22% of the total CO2 emissions and more than 44% of oil consumption in the U.S. technological advancements and use of alternative fuels are often suggested as ways to reduce these emissions. However, many parameters and relationships that determine the future characteristics of the light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet and how they change over time are inherently uncertain. Policy makers need to make decisions today given these uncertainties, to shape the future of light-duty vehicles. Decision makers thus need to know the impact of uncertainties on the outcome of their decisions and the associated risks. This paper explores a carefully constructed detailed pathway that results in a significant reduction in fuel use and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in 2050. Inputs are assigned realistic uncertainty bounds, and the impact of uncertainty on this pathway is analyzed. A novel probabilistic fleet model is used here to quantify the uncertainties within advanced vehicle technology development, and life-cycle emissions of alternative fuels and renewable sources. Based on the results from this study, the expected fuel use is about 500 and 350 × 109 l gasoline equivalent, with a standard deviation of about 40 and 80 × 109 l in years 2030 and 2050, respectively. The expected CO2 emissions are about 1360 and 840 Mt CO2 equivalent with a spread of about 130 and 260 Mt CO2 equivalent in 2030 and 2050, respectively. Major contributing factors in determining the future fuel consumption and emissions are also identified and include vehicle scrappage rate, annual growth of vehicle kilometres travelled in the near term, total vehicle sales, fuel consumption of naturally aspirated engines, and percentage of gasoline displaced by cellulosic ethanol. This type of analysis allows policy makers to better understand the impact of their decisions and proposed policies given the technological and market uncertainties that we face today.


Author(s):  
Anant D. Vyas ◽  
Michael Q. Wang

Section 501 of the 1992 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPACT) mandates that alternative fuel providers who sell such fuels for transportation acquire alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). The potential impacts of this mandate on the two largest groups of alternative fuel providers—electricity and natural gas (NG) providers—are presented. Nationwide, 166 electric-only utilities, 127 NG-only utilities, and 55 dual-utilities are covered by EPACT. Together, these companies own or operate nearly 122,000 light-duty vehicles in EPACT-defined metropolitan areas. Some 63 NG producers and transporters, which have 9,700 light-duty vehicles, are also covered. Covered fuel providers are expected to purchase 2,710 AFVs in 1996 and 13,650 AFVs by 2001. NG companies already have 19.4 percent of their existing light-duty vehicle stocks as AFVs, dual companies have 10.0 percent, NG producers and transporters have 7.0 percent, and electric companies have 1.6 percent. If the existing AFVs count toward meeting the Section 501 requirements, NG providers (utilities, dual utilities, producers, and transporters) will need to make little effort, but electric companies will have to make substantial commitments to meet the requirement.


Author(s):  
P. S. Hu ◽  
M. Q. Wang ◽  
A. Vyas ◽  
M. Mintz ◽  
S. C. Davis

The Energy Policy Act (EPACT) has the goal of replacing 10 percent of transportation petroleum fuel with alternative fuels and replacement fuels by the year 2000 and 30 percent by 2010. Sections 501 and 507 of EPACT mandate use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) in fleet applications. In particular, Section 501 requires that certain percentages of new light-duty vehicles (LDVs) acquired by alternative fuel providers be AFVs. The first step in estimating the effects of these mandates entails identifying affected fleets that are covered by the act. An assessment of potential fleet coverage of Section 501 is presented. This assessment concludes that a limited number of companies in the methanol, ethanol, propane, and hydrogen industries are likely to be covered by this mandate. On the other hand, many of the large crude-oil producers, petroleum refiners, natural-gas producers and transporters, and natural gas and electric utilities are likely to be subject to this mandate.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 661
Author(s):  
Alexandros T. Zachiotis ◽  
Evangelos G. Giakoumis

A Monte Carlo simulation methodology is suggested in order to assess the impact of ambient wind on a vehicle’s performance and emissions. A large number of random wind profiles is generated by implementing the Weibull and uniform statistical distributions for wind speed and direction, respectively. Wind speed data are drawn from eight cities across Europe. The vehicle considered is a diesel-powered, turbocharged, light-commercial vehicle and the baseline trip is the worldwide harmonized light-duty vehicles WLTC cycle. A detailed engine-mapping approach is used as the basis for the results, complemented with experimentally derived correction coefficients to account for engine transients. The properties of interest are (engine-out) NO and soot emissions, as well as fuel and energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Results from this study show that there is an aggregate increase in all properties, vis-à-vis the reference case (i.e., zero wind), if ambient wind is to be accounted for in road load calculation. Mean wind speeds for the different sites examined range from 14.6 km/h to 24.2 km/h. The average increase in the properties studied, across all sites, ranges from 0.22% up to 2.52% depending on the trip and the property (CO2, soot, NO, energy consumption) examined. Based on individual trip assessment, it was found that especially at high vehicle speeds where wind drag becomes the major road load force, CO2 emissions may increase by 28%, NO emissions by 22%, and soot emissions by 13% in the presence of strong headwinds. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the adverse effect of headwinds far exceeds the positive effect of tailwinds, thus explaining the overall increase in fuel/energy consumption as well as emissions, while also highlighting the shortcomings of the current certification procedure, which neglects ambient wind effects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 783 ◽  
pp. 147101
Author(s):  
Yanzhao Hao ◽  
Shunxi Deng ◽  
Zhaowen Qiu ◽  
Zhenzhen Lu ◽  
Hui Song ◽  
...  

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