In 2016, GHG emissions from the transportation sector became the largest source of emissions in the United States, with fossil fuels representing over 90% of fuel used for transportation[1]. Understanding the importance of reducing emissions from transportation, states, including California, have created ambitious GHG reduction plans to shift transportation from conventional fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs).
A key barrier that has been identified to the uptake of EVs is a lack of charging infrastructure. For example, a US Department of Energy study found a six-fold increase in EV deployment when access to chargers was increased by installing chargers in workplaces[2].
In an effort to accelerate the deployment of EV charging infrastructure and reduce emissions in the transportation sector, the EV Charging Carbon Coalition (EVCCC), a coalition of vehicle manufacturers, EV charging service and equipment providers, utilities, financial services and cities, working with the Climate Neutral Business Network, have developed a new methodology to quantify the emission reductions achieved by the charging of electric vehicles (EVs) through EV charging systems, including their associated infrastructure.
This new VCS methodology provides easy-to-use monitoring parameters to quantify emission reductions, and also establishes default factors for the estimation of certain parameters for projects located in the United States and Canada as an alternative to project-specific calculations. In addition, it is globally applicable, and provides a positive list for determining additionality for 40 counties that have been determined to have a market penetration of electric vehicles of less than five percent.
The methodology is available for immediate use.
VM0038 Methodology for Electric Vehicle Charging Systems, v1.0