Observing the Impact of Renewable Electricity on the Emission Factors of Electric Vehicles Using Electricity Generation Data

By analyzing the electricity generation data of Texas from 2007 to 2024, this study computes the average emission factors (AEF) of electric vehicles and observes how AEF evolved with changes in grid mixes. It was observed that the primary source of variation within the AEF comes from the time-varying supply of renewable energy. In addition to developing a tool to forecast the AEF, this study found that adopting solar and wind power generation simultaneously allowed the two energy sources to compensate for each other’s diurnal and seasonal patterns, making EV charging sustainable across all times. It was also discovered that renewable energy capacity serves as pathway by which the interaction between emission factors and changes in economic conditions can be explained, as economic growth impacts renewable energy capacity, and in turn the emissions factors. A 3-D framework for peak identification of AEF considering both diurnal and seasonal variation was proposed, and it was observed that the peaks in AEF had shifted over the years and that the current governmental recommendation to charge during evenings deserves re-evaluation.