EV.THRIVE presented a couple of tools useful for comparing different vehicles and their impact on the environment. This week’s Transportation Fact of the Week (#1188) highlights another calculator, made available by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. The “Beyond Tailpipe Emissions Calculator” can be used to evaluate the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with driving an electric vehicle (EV) or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), including GHG emissions from the production of electricity used to power the vehicle. As with the Carboncounter, presented on our website last March, the zip code is important because it allows to take into account how the electricity is generated in different parts of the country. The calculator shows the upstream GHG emissions in grams per mile for: the specified zip code, the average U.S. electricity grid mix, and the upstream and tailpipe GHG emissions for an average new gasoline vehicle.
The chart shown illustrates the results for a future mainstream EUV we are looking forward to seeing soon.
Reference: U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, FuelEconomy.Gov Beyond Tailpipe Emissions Calculator, queried March 31, 2021.