Detailed analysis of light-duty electric vehicles finds widespread benefits.
Nationwide, United States
Assessment of Light-duty Plug-in Electric Vehicles in the United States, 2010-2019
Summary Information
Spurred by innovations in battery technology, manufacturing, and government incentive programs, the consumer light-duty electric vehicle market has grown rapidly in the past decade. In 2011, auto makers sold just 18,000 electric vehicles, but by 2019, auto makers sold 327,000 electric vehicles.
A research team at Argonne National Laboratory assessed the net benefits from this growth in electric vehicle sales. The team first collected a wide variety of publicly available information on electric vehicles, including total sales figures, vehicle efficiency, fuel economy equivalency, and retail price. Second, the team used common statistical methods to estimate total energy savings, total carbon emissions, and more from these electric vehicle sales. Lastly, the team conducted a sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of their results.
The teams' results indicated:
- Between 2011 and 2019, electric vehicles cumulatively offset 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline consumption.
- Even when accounting for CO2 emissions from electricity consumption, electric vehicles have cumulatively reduced CO2 emissions by 6.9 million metric tons.
