Environmental Benefits and Ownership Costs of University Fleet Electrification: A Case Study of National Taiwan University

Abstract

In June 2020, National Taiwan University released its first University Social Responsibility Report, detailing all the campus-wide efforts on sustainable developments—including its commitment to become Carbon-Neutral Campus by 2048. Vehicle electrification is believed to be an important action to achieve the climate goal. It is of timely importance to have an evaluation framework for exploring the potential tradeoffs between environmental and economic aspects involved in the near-term evolution. In the economic aspect, the total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis results highlight the importance of government subsidies and lower battery costs for electric vehicle fleets to achieve TCO parity with their fuel-powered counterparts. In the environmental aspect, the life-cycle assessment (LCA), derived from the GREET-Taiwan model (greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation), suggests that while fleet electrification could reduce life-cycle energy use and carbon emissions, it will cause more air pollution by creating much more sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions on the basis of per km—owing to the low vehicle use intensity of university fleets.

@article{huang2023environmental,
  title={Environmental Benefits and Ownership Costs of University Fleet Electrification: A Case Study of National Taiwan University},
  author={Huang, Han-Sheng and Hsieh, I-Yun Lisa},
  journal={Journal of the Chinese Institute of Transportation},
  volume={35},
  number={4},
  pages={477-528},
  year={2023},
  month=dec,
  doi={10.6383/JCIT.202312_35(4).0004}
}