Expected Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions by Battery, Fuel Cell, and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles 123

N2O emission factors for power plants are provided by EPA [23] and the IPCC [26].
Generally, N2O emissions from power plants are a small fraction of total fuel cycle CO2
equivalent (CO2e) GHG emissions from power plants [3].

3.2.8 Emissions of other greenhouse gases from EV fuel cycles

Emissions of other GHGs from the production and use of EVs include criteria pollutants,
such as CO, NMHCs, NOx, and SOx, and automotive refrigerants such as chlorofluor-
ocarbon (CFC) and HFC-134a. Criteria pollutants typically have weak direct-forcing
GWP values and are emitted in much lower quantities than CO2, but can contribute to
the formation of compounds that do have a strong radiative forcing effect, such as ozone
and sulfate aerosol. As an example of how these other pollutants can affect overall results,
relative levels of the sulfate aerosols that are produced by coal power plants can affect
their overall climate impacts. As shown in Table 5.4 (in Section 4.1.1) that compares
emissions for BEVs from China, Germany, Japan, and the USA, the overall GHG
reductions of BEVs running on coal-produced electricity are greater for China than
for the United States. Since the sulfate aerosols formed by SOx emissions have a “cool-
ing” rather than a “warming” effect, the emissions from coal-fired power plants in China
to power BEVs can actually have less of a warming effect than those in the United States.
This is the case even though the plants are on average more efficient in the United States.
Also potentially important are the refrigerants used in automotive air conditioners,
which can be released during accidents or improper maintenance procedures, and which
can have very high GWP values. Refrigerant use in automotive air conditioners has
evolved from the use of R-12 throughout the 1970s and 1980s to a transition to HFC-
134a in the 1990s primarily to help protect the earth’s ozone layer. HFC-134a is still a
potent GHG however, with a 100-year GWP value of 1,430 [27]. Other nonozone-
depleting refrigerants such as HFO-1234yf and CO2 are being investigated as lower
GWP options that can still be effective in automotive applications.

3.3 Emissions of CO2 and other GHGs from the vehicle life cycle
What we call “the vehicle life cycle” includes the life cycle of the materials that compose
a vehicle and the life cycle of the vehicle itself. The life cycle of automotive materials,
such as steel, aluminum, and plastics, extends from production of raw ore to delivery of
finished materials to assembly plants, and includes recycled materials as well as materials
made from “virgin” ore. The life cycle of the vehicle itself includes vehicle assembly,
transportation of finished motor vehicles and motor-vehicle parts, and vehicle disposal.
In the vehicle life cycle there are two broad sources of GHG emissions, similar to the
emissions sources in the industrial sector in general: emissions related to the use of
process energy (e.g., fuels burned in industrial boilers to provide process heat), and
noncombustion emissions from process areas (e.g., emissions from the chemical reduc-
tion of alumina to aluminum, or NMHC emissions from painting auto bodies). Energy