Investigation of the environmental impacts of changing the electric vehicles car fleet in Turkey

The transportion sector enables the transportation of goods and services and meets the needs of the people and constitutes the basic building block of the economy and labour. It promotes global production and trade and is an indispensable element of economic development and growth. Transportation across the world is largely dependent on fossil fuels and causes greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it creates local air pollution by releasing different air pollutants. Pollutant emissions from road transport sector in Turkey have decreased over years due to the new emission standards, while the greenhouse gas emissions of the sector have increased significantly over the years. Therefore, it is very important to implement innovative, environmental friendly and sustainable transportation strategies to reduce emissions from the road transport sector. The sustainability of the road transport sector is based on alternative fuels and electric vehicles. Alternative fuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol have been used for many years in motor vehicles, and the use of these fuels can lead to a reduction in the release of air pollutants other than nitrogen oxides. However, as the production of alternative fuels is mostly dependent on local agricultural activities, it is not as common in all parts of the world. Electric vehicles are a promising option for the sustainability of road transport. Hybrid vehicles consume a small amount of fossil fuel, both by using an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, and full electric vehicles only need electricity to operate. If the required electricity is supplied from a renewable energy source, it will ensure the transportation is more green and sustainable by preventing the transmission of electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants. In this study, the problem of air pollution caused by motor vehicles is emphasized. Information provided related to emissions from road transport sector in Turkey. The road transport sector's sustainability options have been interpreted by focusing on alternative fuels and electric vehicles, and there are recommendations for the sustainability of the road transport sector for decision makers, producers and consumers. In addition, current emissions of automobiles have been calculated in Turkey. Calculations have been made in order to demonstrate the potential for reducing the pollutant emissions and resource consumption by switching to electric vehicles with two different scenarios. Differences in emission amounts and resource consumption have been quantified by the provision of electricity for electric vehicles from fossil sources or from renewable sources. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an important tool for the analysis of the environmental impacts of automobiles with a broad view and provides a concrete expression of environmental impacts. In this study, LCA is constructed according to ReCiPe 2016 v1.1 method and its use as an environmental sustainability tool based on renewable based systems is emphasized. The scope of the analysis includes the use of automobiles. Two different scenarios related to the use of electric vehicles instead of internal combustion engines were determined and calculations were made. In addition, current emissions of automobiles have been calculated in Turkey. As a result of the electrification of the fleet with Scenario 1 and 2, the need for renewable energy and global warming, ground level ozone formation, particulate matter formation, ecosystem damage to ground level ozone, terrestrial acidification and fossil resource depletion were calculated for 6 effect categories. As a result of the calculations; although the amount of pollutant emissions obtained for Scenario 1 is considerably higher than the current situation, it has been shown that the effect categories cause additional emissions and resource consumption for terrestrial acidification (SO2) and depletion of fossil resources (coal). The calculation results for Scenario 2 are highly promising and a 5% reduction in emissions and midpoint scores for all categories of impacts has been achieved.