EGU23-12745
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12745
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Unreported VOC emissions from road transport including from electric vehicles

Samuel Cliff1, Ally Lewis1, Marvin Shaw1, James Lee1, Michael Flynn2, Stephen Andrews1, Jim Hopkins1, Ruth Purvis1, and Amber Yeoman1
Samuel Cliff et al.
  • 1Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York, York, UK (sjc613@york.ac.uk)
  • 2School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

There are widespread policy assumptions that the phase-out of gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines will over time lead to much reduced emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from road transport and related fuels. However, the use of real-world emissions measurements from a new mobile air quality monitoring station demonstrated a large underestimation of alcohol-based species in road transport emissions inventories. Scaling of industry sales statistics enabled the discrepancy to be attributed to the use of ancillary solvent products such as screenwash and deicer which are not included in internationally applied vehicle emission methodologies. A fleet average non-fuel non-exhaust VOC emission factor of 58 ± 39 mg veh−1 km−1 was calculated for the missing source, which is greater than the total of all VOCs emitted from vehicle exhausts and their associated evaporative fuel losses. These emissions are independent of the vehicle energy/propulsion system and therefore applicable to all road vehicle types including those with battery-electric powertrains. In contrast to predictions, vehicle VOC emissions may actually increase given a predicted growth in total vehicle kilometers driven in a future electrified fleet and will undergo a complete VOC respeciation due to the source change.

How to cite: Cliff, S., Lewis, A., Shaw, M., Lee, J., Flynn, M., Andrews, S., Hopkins, J., Purvis, R., and Yeoman, A.: Unreported VOC emissions from road transport including from electric vehicles, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12745, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12745, 2023.

Supplementary materials

Supplementary material file