6007ENG: Socio-economic Assessment of Electric Vehicle Operation

This report, prepared for the Griffith School of Engineering's Industry Affiliates Program, undertakes a comprehensive socio-economic assessment of electric vehicle (EV) operation. It begins by highlighting the energy intensity of the transport sector, its reliance on petroleum, and the resulting environmental impacts. The report then explores electric mobility as an alternative, examining various models for assessing the sustainability of EVs, including socio-economic and environmental effects. It delves into the development of dynamic simulation models, incorporating life cycle assessments and addressing uncertainties related to social, economic, and environmental impacts. The report also reviews existing literature on transportation, energy consumption, and EV technologies, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV). It discusses the methodology used, including sampling, survey design, and risk assessments related to EV charging and safety. The assessment covers various aspects such as safety of electrical systems, battery safety, and acoustic perception. The study also looks at the potential for EV adoption, the role of vehicle-to-grid technology, and the environmental effects of different alternative-fueled delivery trucks. The report aims to provide a detailed overview of electric vehicles' role in sustainable transportation.

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Griffith School of Engineering
Griffith University
6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program
Socio-economic Assessment of Electric
Vehicles Operation
M……, s……...
Date, Trimester 2, 2019

Company Name Here
Industry Supervisor Name Here
Academic Supervisor Name Here
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Your Degree Program Here, eg
Bachelor of Engineering (Honors)
The copyright on this report is held by the author and/or the IAP Industry Partner. Permission has been granted to Griffith University to keep
a reference copy of this report.

6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Trimester 2, 2019
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Transport has turned out to be one of the sectors with regard to energy intensity around the
globe. It accounts for a 41% level of the final consumption of energy at the national level
those results in a lot of emissions of pollution as well as greenhouse gases to not less than
23% in the kingdom atmosphere. The energy used by the transport sector is mainly derived
from petroleum products which are imported wholly from without the boundaries of the
various countries. This dependence on energy is hence to a great extent a possible explanation
of the heavy energy bill weight and hence the balance of payments.
The negative effect as a result of numerous means of transport is of importance to the
surrounding. In a bid to lower the same, the mobility needs have profoundly been reviewed
and more learning acquired regarding the patterns of travel of users. This step forms the basis
as well as the purpose of the project perceived to be important in a bid to enhance new and
better mobility modes more ecological as well as friendlier to the environment. It is within the
very context that electric mobility is created as an alternative mode of transport to the thermal
vehicles. The electric car is normally advanced as a potential solution for such energy as well
as the economic state. Should it be in existence for more than a century, it is just for less than
a decade it is revisited and brought back to life and once more becomes an actual option for
the numerous motorists.
The project evaluated and came up with integrated sustainability assessment modes which are
among them socio-economic as well as environmental effects of an electrified sector of
transportation. In the early years, four modeling attempts were established. Such models are
an integrated sustainability assessment model for electric vehicles, life impact model of
alternative options of fuel, stochastic cost simulation model as well as the electricity mix
sustainability model for electric vehicles. The four modeling attempts were brought together
in the later time frame of the project to form a dynamic simulation model of electric vehicles
adoption which was inclusive of an elaborate cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment among
them uncertainties which will incorporate the social, economic as well as environmental
effects of electric vehicles.
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6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Trimester 2, 2019
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This report is a final research report for the Socio-Economic Assessment of Electric Vehicle
Operation project of the Industrial Affiliate Program at Griffith University. The objective of
the Socio-Economic Assessment of Electric Vehicle Operation project was to develop models
to evaluate the socio-economic implications of a large-scale electrified transportation sector.
The developed model included effects of vehicle and infrastructure safety requirements,
standardization of vehicle components for safety and charging, electric vehicle supplies and
after-market economies, displacement of petroleum fuels and impacts of sustainable
development (social, environmental and economic).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 CONTENTS
THESIS TITLE GOES HERE...............................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................................II
TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................III
1 CONTENTS.....................................................................................................................III
2 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................5
3 REVIEW OF PUBLISHED LITERATURE...................................................................7
3.1 The paradox of Mobility and its Cost:.......................................................................9
3.2 Transport Environment link:...................................................................................10
3.3 Environmental Dimension of transportation:.........................................................12
3.4 Fossil Fuel Consumption: A proliferating threat to environment........................13
3.4.1 Transport fuel supply and projections...................................................................14
3.5 Electricity as a potential source of energy in transportation sector:....................17
3.6 Electric Vehicle Technologies...................................................................................19
3.7 Assessment of Alternative Passenger Vehicles:......................................................20
3.8 Strong support for Electric Vehicles over the past decade across economic
spectrum...............................................................................................................................21
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6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Trimester 2, 2019
3.9 Passenger Vehicles:....................................................................................................22
3.10 Electric vehicles regional optimizer & market penetration model:......................23
3.11 Vehicle to grid Technology:......................................................................................25
3.12 Class 8 Heavy duty trucks.........................................................................................26
3.13 Delivery Trucks..........................................................................................................27
3.14 Valid to Home Technology........................................................................................27
4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................29
4.1 Sampling Methodology:............................................................................................30
4.2 Survey Design and Data collection:.........................................................................31
4.2.1 Using Online Survey forms..................................................................................31
4.2.2 Using face to face interviews................................................................................31
4.2.3 Information about respondents.............................................................................31
4.2.4 Exploratory Analysis of Attitudes towards Electric Vehicle................................32
5 RISK ASSESMENT.........................................................................................................35
5.1 Risk due to charging-discharging mechanism of EVs:..........................................35
5.2 Risks of the hybrid and electric vehicles regarding safety.....................................36
5.2.1 Safety of the electrical system..............................................................................36
5.2.2 Safety regarding the functioning of the systems...................................................37
5.2.3 Battery Safety........................................................................................................38
5.2.4 Maintenance..........................................................................................................38
5.3 Acoustic perception...................................................................................................39
6 REFERENCES................................................................................................................42
2 INTRODUCTION
Transport, responsible for approximately 41% overall energy consumption at the national
level, can be regarded as one of the most energy-consuming sectors around the globe. This
energy usage is mainly derived from petroleum products imported without any boundaries
from various countries. This dependence on energy is hence to a great extent a possible
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explanation of the heavy energy bill weight and hence the balance of payments (The United
States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Department of
Energy. Technical Information Center, Holifield National Laboratory, United States. Energy
Research and Development Administration. Technical, 1989).
This usage of petroleum products imposes a huge negative effect on the environment. To
minimize this effect, the mobility needs have profoundly been reviewed and more learning
acquired regarding the patterns of travel of users. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in
hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV) are some of these
alternative vehicle technologies, which can help to address the aforementioned issues by
shifting transportation energy sources use from fossil fuels to electricity, under low carbon
electricity generation scenarios (Placeholder4). This step forms the basis as well as the
purpose of the project perceived to be important in a bid to enhance new and better mobility
modes more ecological as well as friendlier to the environment. It is within the very context
that electric mobility is created as an alternative mode of transport to the thermal vehicles
(Golinska, 2013).
The project evaluated and came up with integrated sustainability assessment modes which are
among them socio-economic as well as environmental effects of an electrified sector of
transportation. In the early years, four modeling attempts were established. Such models are
an integrated sustainability assessment model for electric vehicles, life impact model of
alternative options of fuel, stochastic cost simulation model as well as the electricity mix
sustainability model for electric vehicles. The four modeling attempts were brought together
in the later time frame of the project to form a dynamic simulation model of electric vehicles
adoption which was inclusive of an elaborate cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment among
them uncertainties which will incorporate the social, economic as well as environmental
effects of electric vehicles (Tariq Muneer, 2017).
This examination looks at the degree to which explicit utility EV power rates, in a mix with
fluctuating neighborhood fuel costs, can be appeared to give vehicle operational financial
advantages of changing from ordinary to electric vehicles (EVs). The setting for the
examination is incorporating module mixture electric vehicles (PHEVs) and unadulterated
battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The fundamental objective of this examination is to pick up
customer market and strategy bits of knowledge identified with the most recent power rates in
California and over the United States (U.S.) that have been produced for EV reviving. At
present, there are noteworthy other buy motivators for shoppers to change to electric-drive
vehicles, including some government programs. These projects were set up to energize the
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early commercialization of EVs for their natural and energy use benefits (Golinska, 2013)
(Michael Hülsmann, 2013).
Going by the most current data, the United States of America is getting late with regarding
taking action towards attaining sustainable transportation. The share of the transportation of
the United States of America carbon emissions from the consumption of fossil fuel has been
established to be about 30% within the last twenty years. These figures have unfortunately not
gone down during the last four decades. Electric vehicles have in this regard gained a rapid
interest around the world and are taken into consideration as a possible alternative strategy
that can be used for sustainable transportation. The research team concentrated on seven areas
of research as:
 The calculations of state-specific carbon as well as energy footprint of alternative
vehicles for passengers among the hybrid, plug-in hybrid as well as battery electric
vehicles (Da Zhu, 2016).
 The common uncertainty in the optimization of the transportation fleets as well as
prediction of future market penetration of electric vehicles will be addressed through
the development of two novel integrated models:
o Electric Vehicle Regional Market Penetration
o Electric Vehicle Regional Optimizer
 The use of a vehicle to grid technology regarding sustainable transportation will be
evaluated.
 A hybrid life cycle assessment methodology will be adopted in analyzing as well as
making comparisons of alternative fuel-powered Class 8 heavy-duty trucks with the
traditional trucks.
 The environmental effects of the different alternative-fueled delivery trucks among
them battery-electric, diesel-electric hybrid as well as compressed natural gas trucks
will be analyzed.
 Integrate the use of vehicles to home technology with a building that is optimally
designed to meet the need for a net-zero energy building. It will be established that
vehicle to home technology is able to significantly lower the cost of electricity via
storage of electricity in the battery during off-peak alongside depleting it when it gets
to the peak hours (M. Kucukvar Noori, 2014).
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The aim of the survey was to interview a section of the households of a region made up of
major people of not less than 18 years old. An online platform set aside to questionnaires
production as well as sharing was chosen:
 To get major segments of survey questions attended to by interviewees.
 To enable a fluidity for collection as well as posterior treatment.
 Get to a great number of respondents drawn from various groups.
Collection of data will be carried out in two various ways:
 Online which is composed of structured and simple forms
 Face-to-face interviews are composed of physical interviews providing actual insight
regarding the opinions of the interviewee alongside more elaborate answers (Oak
Ridge National Lab, 2013).
3 REVIEW OF PUBLISHED LITERATURE
Transportation needs to be tackled in an integrated manner as it is a complex, technology-
intensive and socio-technical system. Transportation as a sector has tremendous impacts with
respect to the socio-economic and environmental well-being of the society. Therefore,
sustainable transportation is not only an important field of research within academia but is
also essential for a sustainable economy (M, 2008).
In the United States, there are various efforts to increase the adoption of these alternative
vehicle technologies due to their great potential for reducing fossil fuel consumption and
GHG emissions. The U.S. road system has the largest network size in the world, as well as
one of the largest network usage densities at three million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) per
year. These factors make the U.S. transportation sector an important source of GHG
emissions and energy consumption with 28% of the nation’s total emissions. Additionally, the
transportation sector consumes immense amounts of petroleum and it is responsible for 67%
of the total U.S. petroleum consumption (DOT U.S. Department of Transportation, 2014).
This high petroleum demand is more than the U.S. petroleum production (141% of total
petroleum production in the U.S.), which compromises national energy security and result in
high dependency on fossil fuels. Although alternative vehicle technologies have great
potential to minimize the negative economic, social, and environmental impacts of the fast-
growing transportation sector, there are certain challenges against the widespread adoption of
these technologies. These barriers include lack of infrastructure, customer’s unwillingness to
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purchase these vehicles, high initial costs of BEVs, and insufficient all-electric range. In this
regard, national agencies, state-level authorities, and international organizations support the
adoption of alternative vehicle technologies to increase their market penetration. For instance,
The Obama administration and the Department of Energy (DOE) aim to reach one million
electric vehicles (including HEVs, PHEVs, and BEVs) by 2015 and are trying to accelerate
sales by state and federal level incentives. In addition, a program by the DOE, EV-
Everywhere Challenge, aims to promote development and research activities to reduce battery
costs, increase the all-electric range of electric vehicles, and make these vehicles affordable
for American families. While all of these efforts are necessary and useful, it is more important
to understand the macro-level social, economic, and environmental (termed as the triple
bottom line) impacts of alternative vehicle technologies to be able to develop more effective
policies and guide the offering of incentives to the right domains (Executive Office of the
President, 2013).
Analysis of alternative vehicle systems needs a holistic triple bottom line sustainability
accounting which requires a broad set of environmental, economic and environmental
indicators. Although many studies have used life-cycle based approaches to quantify the
environmental consequences of alternative transportation systems, only a handful of studies
have been found in the literature which analyzes the socio-economic aspects of these
transportation systems. The majority of the studies which conducted an environmental life-
cycle assessment of conventional and electric vehicles mainly focused on the limited
environmental impact categories such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and
some mid-point indicators. In general, the difficulties related to precisely assessing the
broader social and economic impacts of transportation stem from lack of appropriate methods,
tools and data availability. However, the socio-economic effects of transportation should be
considered since they are highly critical for the quality of people’s lives. According to a
comprehensive guidebook published by the Transportation Research Board on the socio-
economic effects of transportation projects, travel time, safety, vehicle operating cost, noise,
and congestion are listed among the prominent socio-economic metrics. In another study
related to issues in sustainable transportation, the importance of environmental, economic,
and social indicators for sustainability assessment of transportation systems was discussed.
According to Litman and Burwell, income, employment, accessibility, safety, equity, and
affordability are listed as the major socio-economic metrics of sustainable transportation.
Offer et al. also conducted a comparative study and focused on the economic impacts of
battery and electric vehicles using a life-cycle cost analysis based on capital cost, running
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cost, and end-of-life cost. Stone et al. used the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP)
database in order to analyze the socio-economic impacts of transportation projects considering
a wide range of socio-economic indicators such as contribution to gross domestic product
(GDP), household income, poverty, and import (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), 2007). The World Bank’s report on the social analysis of transportation projects also
revealed important insights regarding the significance of socio-economic aspects of
transportation. In this report, employment, road safety, health impacts, and accessibility are
considered key drivers of socio-economic sustainability in transportation. In a report
published by the European Commission for the future of sustainable transportation in
European States, number of fatalities and injuries, contribution to GDP, employment, external
cost of transportation activities such as congestion, emission and safety, taxation, average
passenger travel time, and affordability are listed among the key indicators to assess the socio-
economic sustainability aspects of transportation activities ((WBCSD), 2004).
3.1 The paradox of Mobility and its Cost:
A paradoxical relationship exists between mobility and its cost. This relationship is dependent
on the benefits derived by the users and the costs (in part assumed by the society and the
environment). Increasing demands for mobility is directly linked with motorization but
mobility consumes a large number of energy resources, mainly petroleum. Mobility comes at
a cost (e.g. fuel, maintenance, licensing, insurance, etc.) which is partially assumed by the
user and environmental impacts are a cost mostly assumed by the society. The benefits of
mobility are internal to the users while the costs are in part externalized (Department of
Energy (DOE), 2011).
Figure 1. The Paradox of Mobility and its Costs
3.2 Transport Environment link:
A multidimensional relation exists between the environment and transport. Some aspects are
unknown, and their discovery may lead to a number of changes in environmental policies.
Due to the modes used and low mobility levels transposition was associated with very few
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negative environmental impacts. For instance, the construction of large navies composed of
sail ships in Western Europe and North America from the 16th to the 19th centuries were
responsible for a level of deforestation (Department of Energy (DOE), 2013). Urbanization in
the 19th century, industrialization and the development of steam engines lead to pollution
near ports and rail yards. Still, these issues remained insignificant and localized.
With a massive diffusion of transportation modes such as the automobile and the airplane in
the 20th century a comprehensive perspective about the links between transportation and the
environment emerged. At the same time, manufacturing and marketing concepts such as
planned obsolescence incited the design of modes such as the automobile and products (that
are transported) that can continuously be replaced. The 1960s and 1970s were crucial decades
in the realization of the negative environmental impacts of human activities and the need for
regulations (Litman, 2009).
The Clean Air Act of 1970 set clear air quality standards and expectations for both stationary
(e.g. a power plant) and mobile (e.g. an automobile) source of air pollutants. For
transportation, it set certain standards for a list of pollutants such as volatile organic
compounds, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide that resulted in a rapid decline of air pollutant
emissions through better engine technology, especially by the transportation sector. The
1990s were characterized by a realization of global environmental issues, epitomized by the
growing concerns between anthropogenic effects and climate change. Transportation also
became an important dimension of the concept of sustainability, which has become a core
focus, ranging from vehicle emissions to green supply chain management practices. These
developments require a deep understanding of the reciprocal influence between the physical
environment and transport infrastructures and yet this understanding is often lacking. The
main factors considered in the physical environment are geographical location, topography,
geological structure, climate, hydrology, soil, natural vegetation, and animal life (Hawkins,
Gausen, & Strømman, 2012).
Transportation environmental dimensions are related to the causes, the activities, the outputs
and the results of transport systems. It is a difficult task to establish linkages between
environmental dimensions e.g. to what extent carbon dioxide emissions are linked to land use
patterns? Furthermore, transportation is rooted in environmental cycles, especially over the
carbon cycle where carbon flows from one element of the biosphere, like the atmosphere, to
another like the ecosphere, where it can be accumulated (permanently or temporarily) or
passed on. The relationships between transport and the environment are also complicated by
two observations:
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