Date of Completion

2025

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Electrical and Biomedical Engineering

Thesis Type

Honors College

First Advisor

Mads Almassalkhi

Second Advisor

Samuel Chevalier

Keywords

Marginal emissions, electric vehicles, CO2, battery storage, solar photovoltaics, Vermont

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are often regarded as a way to reduce the CO2 emissions impact of the transportation sector, and many individuals looking to reduce their carbon footprint turn to an EV as the solution. However, there is insufficient research on the emissions impact of EV charging, which is highly dependent on driving behavior, time of charge, and location. This research seeks to understand the carbon impacts of EV charging specifically in Vermont using marginal operational emissions rates (MOER) for Vermont’s grid. Furthermore, the added carbon benefits of time-restricted charging, solar photovoltaics (PV), and at-home battery storage are quantified. The results highlight how utility Time-of-Use rates, solar adoption, and energy storage can reduce EV charging emissions in Vermont. The study also identifies limitations of these technologies, such as the diminished carbon benefit of battery storage when batteries are oversized (over 13.5 kWh for a driver traveling the national average distance). These findings seek to enable more informed decisions about carbon reduction in the transportation sector.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS