Fact #562: March 16, 2009 Carbon Reduction of Plug-in Hybrid
Electric Vehicles Estimates from the GREET model (see Argonne
National Laboratory's information on GREET) show that passenger
car PHEV10s produce about 29% fewer carbon emissions than a
conventional vehicle, when plugged into an outlet connected to
the typical U.S. grid. Even when PHEV10s are charged using power
generated completely from coal, carbon emissions are about 25%
less than those of a conventional vehicle. The use of light
truck PHEV10s reduces emissions by 28% when charged on a typical
grid and 23% when charged on power generated from coal. The
carbon reductions are greater as the length the vehicle can
travel on electricity increases. |PHEV10||plug-in hybrid
electric vehicle which can travel up to 10 miles on electricity
alone| |PHEV20||plug-in hybrid electric vehicle which can travel
up to 20 miles on electricity alone| |PHEV30||plug-in hybrid
electric vehicle which can travel up to 30 miles on electricity
alone| |PHEV40||plug-in hybrid