Environmental benefits of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: The case of Alberta

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are emerging as a promising alternative for the existing transportation system. This technology is envisioned to run on electricity from the grid, stored in high capacity batteries, for short trips and switch to a conventional fuels for long trips. Thus, the demand for electricity will significantly grow if this technology is adopted widely. Although, PHEV technology is generally considered to be more environmentally friendly than conventional transportation systems, especially in regions with a diverse electric power generation fleet, the environmental impacts of such wide integration of PHEVs need to be investigated in thermal-dominated systems, such as Alberta´s. This paper studies the potential environmental impacts of the wide adoption of PHEVs in the context of Alberta, given the 90% share of thermal units and the growing interstes in wind power developments in the province. Various scenarios are considered for supplying the required energy for PHEVs and the resulting gas consumption and emission reductions are estimated.