Energy for Sustainability

Randolph & Masters, 2008

Chapter 13:
Transportation Energy and
Efficient Vehicles
Transportation and Energy
 Transportation Energy Trends
 Vehicle technologies and efficiency
 HEV, BEV, FCEV
 Alternative fuels
 Biofuels
 Land Use and Transportation
 Compact, mixed-use development
 Transit oriented development
 Anti-sprawl urban growth boundaries
 Urban Heat Island
 Transportation Energy Trends
 U.S. Transportation: 28% of total energy (2005),
25% (1975).
 Transportation consumes 68% of the U.S.
petroleum, 55% of world oil.
 Transportation relies almost exclusively on oil: 96%
of transportation energy came from oil in 2005.
Natural gas (3%) pumps natural gas pipelines.
 Transportation contributes 32% of U.S. carbon
dioxide emissions in 2005.
 Transportation is the primary source of urban air
pollution, including in the U.S. 82% of carbon
monoxide emissions, and 56% and 42%
respectively of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic
compounds, which combine to form urban smog.
 More Transportation Trends
 What if the oil-intensive U.S. patterns of transportation,
dominated by personal vehicles, are adopted by developing
countries, like China? Oil markets, GHG emissions, and urban
air pollution? There are about 800 million vehicles in the world
today and that number could grow to 3.25 million by 2050, led by
China and India, each of which now has a middle class
population exceeding the total U.S. population.
 Transportation energy consumption data include operating
energy to fuel transport of people and materials. However, like
building energy use data, they do not include the embodied
energy required for the construction and maintenance of the
infrastructure of roads, parking lots, airports, and rail, with its
energy intensive concrete, asphalt, and steel.
Growth of U.S. Vehicles per 1000 People,
1900-2002, with 2002 values for selected
countries and regions.
NRDC Vision: Eliminate Gasoline by 2050
 Smart growth to reduce VMT
 Vehicle efficiency
 Biofuels
U.S. Transportation Energy by Mode, 2004
U.S. Transportation Petroleum
Highway energy by mode
U.S. Passenger Travel Intensity, 2004
 Personal vehicles: our oil fix

Congestion
 Vehicle Types
 Internal Combustion Engines (ICE)
 Otto cycle gasoline engine
 Flex-fuel Otto cycle takes up to E-85 biofuel
 Diesel engine
 Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)
 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)
 All Electric Vehicle (BEV)
 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV)
Diesel and Flex-fuel Engines
 Diesel vehicles:
 The diesel engine differs from the Otto gasoline engine in that it takes air
into the cylinder and compresses it, then injects distillate (diesel) fuel.
 The higher compression ratio (piston downstroke to upstroke volume) of
the diesel engine (about 15 or 20:1 compared to 8 or 10:1 for the Otto
cycle) heats the compressed air hot enough to ignite the fuel without a
spark, driving the piston downward and turning the crankshaft.
 European diesel sales
 U.S. next?
Clean diesel: Volkswagon, Daimler
BlueTec System
Flex-fuel gasoline/biofuel vehicles
 The fuel may contain anywhere from zero to 85%
ethanol (E85)
 Ethanol contains more oxygen than gasoline. The
vehicles come equipped with an oxygen sensor
which determines the amount of ethanol in the fuel at
any time. It provides this information to the onboard
computer, which then adjusts the engine to maximize
efficiency and performance.
 Cost: <$100/vehicle
 7-8 million on the road; ~1 million sold each year
Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Series
Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Parallel
Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Parallel-Series
U.S. Hybrid Electric Vehicle Sales, 2000–2007
Year Number
Sold
2000 9350
2001 20,287
2002 35,000
2003 47,525
2004 88,000
2005 210,000
2006 268,000
2007 352,000 70% Toyota, 4.7% U.S. car sales
2008 ~500,000?
 Big Hybrids boom over next decade?
 By 2010, 5-6% of all cars sold in America will be HEVs,
assuming current oil prices (ABI Research & Automotive
Technology Research Group).
 By 2011, about 35 HEV models will be on the market, with that
number exceeding 50 in 2012 (J.D. Power).
 By 2015, HEVs will make up 3% of the total U.S. light vehicle
market (J.D. Power).
 By 2015, HEVs will make up 80% of the U.S. market (Booz
Allen Hamilton).
 By 2025, HEVs will account for 1.5 million vehicles or a 7%
market share (U.S. EIA).
 By 2030, HEVS will be 30% of the U.S. new car market
(ExxonMobil).
Driven by higher fuel cost
Efficiency: U.S. CAFE Standards & Sales
Efficiency Standards around the World
U.S. Air Pollutant Emission Rates
California Std
(+12 states)

U.S. Standard
Vehicle GHG Score
 California AB 1493 Pavley Act
 30% reduction in vehicle GHG emissions by 2016
with phase-in starting 2009
 15 states poised to adopt California standard when
approved by EPA
 Request for waiver of preemption under CAA denied
by EPA in December 2007
 CA and other states taking EPA to court
 Supreme Court 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA decision
requiring EPA to consider CO2 as air pollutant will
influence this debate
Emerging Technologies:
Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV)
Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle:
simply add an extra battery bank
Retrofit packages: Hymotion
 PHEV offer certain advantages
 With greater use of the electric drive, the vehicle
uses less gasoline and is more efficient than
conventional HEV on a mpg of gasoline basis.
Some PHEV Prius retrofits have achieved 100
mpg over 1000 miles of travel.
 With greater use of the electric drive in city
driving, the PHEV is a zero emission vehicle
(ZEV) that can reduce emissions and improve
urban air quality.
Electric Drive Vehicles:
Gas-equivalent “Price per Gallon” and CO2 Emissions

One-quarter the cost of gasoline

(at 10¢/kWh, $3/gal)

One-half the CO2 emissions as

gasoline
(at average U.S. electricity
sources: 52% coal)
Where do you get the electricity?

 Vehicles charged at night by grid power during

off-peak hours

 Plug-in Vehicles can enhance Distributed

Renewable Generation
 Your PV garage roof is your filling station
 Night-time demand provides a market for grid
wind power or other intermittent generation.
The PV Garage could easily charge a vehicle
for 30-45 all-electric miles per day
All Electric Vehicles
The Tesla Roadster
 What about grid capacity to charge vehicles?
45
Current electric capacity in California could supply 40% of VM

40
40% vehicle-miles EV
System load (GW)

35
20% EV
30
No EVs
25

20

15
0
Noon 66 pm 12
MN 18am
6 24
Noon
Vehicles-to-Grid (V2G)
Electricity Storage
 A large fleet of Plug-in Hybrids and/or all Electric
Vehicles enable a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) power
storage system.

 Batteries in electric vehicles (charged primarily at

night) can provide a bank of electricity storage for the
grid when they are parked and plugged in at parking
ramps and lots during the day when peak power is
needed.
A vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system would require careful
control and accounting to manage large numbers of vehicles
supplying high-value, quick response grid services
 Distant dream
or sooner than most think?

 Rising interest in plug-in hybrids, V2G

 Austin, Texas: promoting plug-ins and V2G to
make better use of wind energy capacity
 Google: plug-ins and on-site solar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDjSbWTJbdo&eurl=http://www.google.org/recharge/overview.html
Lovins’ Winning the Oil End Game
 The scenario calls for halving the amount of oil
used in the U.S. and substituting alternatives for
the other half.

 By taking critical steps now, the U.S. could

 save as much oil as it gets from the Persian Gulf by
2015;
 set the stage by 2025 for the option of transitioning
to a hydrogen economy (what Lovins refers to as
the “checkmate move in the Oil Endgame); and
 have a flourishing economy without oil by 2050.
Hypercar Revolution
Light-weight, composite material,
aerodynamic hybrid: 66 mpg
 The four integrated steps include:

 Doubling the efficiency of using oil, primarily through

ultralight vehicle design
 Applying creative business models and public policies for
adoption of superefficient vehicles.
 Providing another one-fourth of U.S. oil needs by a major
domestic biofuels industry.
 Substituting natural gas for oil using gas saved by
profitable efficiency techniques that could save half of the
projected 2025 use of natural gas.
Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles
Honda Home Energy Natural Gas Reformer for Hydrogen
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Entering the Age of Gases?
H2 Industry says FCV necessary
Well-to-Wheels Life-cycle Assessment
 DOE’s Hydrogen Themes
 Hydrogen is “The Freedom Fuel”

 Hydrogen provides independence and an environmental choice

 Hydrogen solves foreign oil dependency and improves the

environment

 Hydrogen is everywhere—"it’s right in our backyard“

 A hydrogen economy includes other fuels

 Hydrogen—it works (it is an ongoing business today)

 Hydrogen is safe

 Hydrogen is a long-term energy solution

 Hydrogen is the “man on the moon” equivalent for this generation

 But…there are challenges
 Hydrogen production: hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and a key
element of water. The challenge is splitting it from water or other substances and this requires
energy.
 Steam methane reforming; Electrolysis of water; Emerging technologies include thermochemical
water splitting, solar photolytic processes, and fossil fuel H2 production with carbon
sequestration.
 It is critical that the production process be carbon-free, energy efficient, and modular to enhance
distributed production.

 Hydrogen transport and delivery is best provided by pipeline using the natural gas pipeline
system. Household or business gas distribution pipelines and metering can be used for
personal fueling of mobile uses like automobiles, but a new delivery infrastructure (refueling
stations) would also be needed.

 Hydrogen storage presents technical challenges especially for mobile applications. Hydrogen
can be compressed and liquefied, but emerging technologies for metal and chemical hydride
storage may offer the best options for stability and volume.

 Hydrogen conversion includes traditional combustion in boilers, engines, and turbines, and
also conversion to electricity in fuel cells. Advance in fuel cell technologies, which can convert
H2 to electricity at efficiencies of 60% or more, provide the trump card for hydrogen
transportation and electricity generation.

 Hydrogen applications are diverse from on-site distributed electricity generation to vehicle
transportation, both using efficient fuel cells.
 From Science August 2004 Issue:
“Toward the Hydrogen Economy”
 If ever a phrase tripped lightly over the tongue, “the hydrogen economy” does. It appeals to
the futurist in all of us, and it sounds so simple: We currently have a carbon economy (and CO2
and global warming). We will eventually be able to power our cars and industries with climate-
neutral hydrogen, which produces only water.

 Well, can we? There are problems, and they’re serious. To convert the U.S. economy in this
way will require a lot of hydrogen: about 150 million tons of it in each year. That hydrogen will
have to be made by extracting it from water or biomass, and that takes energy…. At normal
human-scale temperatures, is an invisible gas: light, jittery, and slippery; hard to store,
transport, liquefy, and handle safely; and capable of releasing only as much energy as human
beings first pump into it. Using hydrogen as a common currency for an energy economy will be
far from simple….

 [What is needed is a] mix of social and economic changes that might actually reduce current
emissions.

 But current U.S. policy offers few incentives for that. Instead, it is concentrating on research
programs [like hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and hydrogen from fossil fuels] designed to bring us a
hydrogen economy that will not be carbon-free and will not be with us any time soon.

 The trouble with the plan to focus on research and the future, of course, is that the exploding
trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions won’t take time off while we are all waiting for the
hydrogen economy. Meanwhile, our attention is deflected from the hard, even painful
measures that would be needed to slow our business-as-usual carbon trajectory. Postponing
action on emissions reduction is like refusing medication for a developing infection: It
guarantees that greater costs will have to be paid later.
 Well-to-Wheels Assessment
 GREET
California Energy Commission WTW
Our simple assessment