According to foreign media reports, the US Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne National Laboratory) has launched a new tool that enables drivers to estimate from the zip code level how much fuel costs they have saved by driving plug-in electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) or pure electric vehicles (BEV).
(photo: Argonne Lab), the tool, called “Electric driving: local fuel Saving Calculator (Driving Electric: Local Fuel Savings Calculator)”, is available to the public free of charge.
Drivers can enter their zip code or state, as well as information about their vehicle size, age, fuel tank size, fuel economy and annual mileage.
The tool then generates an estimate of how much the driver can save.
Yan (Joann) Zhou, chief transportation systems analyst at Argonne National Laboratory’s Energy Systems and Infrastructure Analysis (ESIA) division, said: “in more than 99% of postal code areas in the United States, driving plug-in electric vehicles instead of conventional fuel vehicles can save fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
With this new tool, drivers can enter information about their vehicle, location, annual mileage and local fuel prices, and see how much they save per mile, per tank and per year.
” The electric vehicle savings calculator is based on the recent Argonne Lab technical report “adopting plug-in electric vehicles: local fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the United States (Adoption of Plug-In Electric Vehicles: Local Fuel Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Across the emissions.)”. Through the report, the researchers shed light on previously unknown new information about how local factors such as fuel and electricity costs affect personal savings and how they reduce greenhouse gas emissions, depending on where they live.
The researchers found that driving a BEV can save as much as $2200 a year compared to driving a gas vehicle of the same size.
Fuel savings are greatest in areas with high gasoline prices, low electricity prices, preference for large cars and high annual mileage.
In addition, the researchers found that driving an PHEV can save as much as $1500 a year compared to driving an equivalent fuel car.
The report also examines the impact of greenhouse gas emissions using the well-to-wheel (well-to-wheels) approach, which takes into account the energy consumption of vehicles throughout their life cycle.
Investigators found that BEV drivers are likely to lose nearly 5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent for every 10000 miles they drive.
Xinyi Wu, transportation systems analyst at ESIA and lead author of the report, said: “as more people choose to drive BEV, they can not only contribute to cleaner air, but also save themselves a lot of costs.
With this tool, individuals can now know how much money they can save based on where they live and how long they drive.
” The project is funded by the Office of Policy and vehicle Technology (Policy and Vehicle Technologies Office) of the Office of Energy efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy.
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