Clean air benefits from electric vehicles

The overall goal of this project is to conduct research on air quality benefits of electric vehicles as a means to help manage air quality in B.C. communities. This research has the objective to: Estimate air quality impacts for three B.C. communities from adoption of electric vehicles. The air quality impacts estimated are community-wide annual emissions of 1. Greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide 2. Local air pollutants - carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, sulphur oxides and particulate matter. Personal vehicles running on gasoline or diesel emit pollutants with significant health impacts, and also make large contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicles in British Columbia provide significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollutants, due to the province's clean electricity. This research comprises three communities: Campbell River, Richmond, and the Peace River Regional District. Two scenarios were developed for each community: a reference case, with minimal EV uptake in the community, and an EV scenario. The EV scenario assumed that 1.4% and 24% of passenger vehicle stock in 2020 and 2035 respectively would be EVs, based on the assumptions from BC Hydro's 2012 Draft Integrated Resource Plan.