CO2 emissions from future passenger vehicles in the Nordic countries

In January 2011 Ea Energy Analyses completed a project on CO₂ emissions from passenger vehicles carried out for the Danish Petroleum Association and Norsk Petroleumsinstitutt. The analyses mainly focused on CO₂ emissions from electric vehicles in the short and medium-term based on the expected development of the electricity system in the Nordic countries and in Germany towards 2020.

The report demonstrates that electricity for electric vehicles in 2020 will have a CO₂ emission of around 650 g CO₂/kWh electricity, excluding so-called upstream emissions. 650 g CO₂/kWh is an average emission based on three scenarios with varying impact of electric vehicles on the investment in renewable energy.

In addition to the analyses of CO₂ emissions, also the cost of using electric vehicles as a means to reduce CO₂ emissions has been investigated. The conclusion is that although electric vehicles are expected to play an important role for emissions reduction in the long term, they prove to be an expensive short-term measure compared to other options.