Abstract
Electrification of transportation is one of the most efficient solutions to reduce global warming and pollution emission. This is due to the higher efficiency of electric motors in regard to gasoline or diesel technologies. This chapter will prove that this is obviously true at the car level (wheel-to-wheel consumption) but also at the power plant level (well-to-wheel consumption), integrating the energy matrix of a few countries. The methodology proposed can easily be replicated to any country or region the reader may want to benchmark. It will also prove that public transport is more energy friendly than cars when taking into consideration capacity and occupancy rate. To do so, it will indicate for nontechnical readers, how forces such as acceleration, air drag, and friction resistance impact energy consumption of the different transportation modes, using comparable physical parameters. A focus will be given on braking energy recuperation, which is crucial for mass transit operation. New state-of-the art electrical technologies (i.e., permanent magnet motor, SiC inverters, and direct drive) that can reduce even further energy consumption, will be highlighted. As there is a direct relation between energy consumption inefficiencies and pollution, this chapter will also calculate and prove that mass transit and electric cars can reduce significantly the pollution emission wheel-to-wheel and well-to-wheel. The positive consequences of pollutant reduction, on air pollutant-related diseases are also described. Finally, this chapter will estimate the beneficial impact of these higher energy efficiencies on society, such as reduced health and global warming costs. We will show that for countries like France or the USA, the complete electrification of the conventional car fleet would generate direct yearly savings in the range of $20 and $100 billion, respectively.
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Notes
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Abbreviations
- ABS:
-
Anti-lock braking system
- EPA:
-
Energy Protection Agency
- IEA:
-
International Energy Agency
- IGBT:
-
Insulated gate bipolar transistor
- NHTSA:
-
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- RBS:
-
Regenerating braking system
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Van Themsche, S. (2016). Environmentally Conscious Society. In: The Advent of Unmanned Electric Vehicles. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20666-0_3
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