Comparative Analysis of Air Pollutant Emissions of Hybrid, Conventional, and Electric Vehicles Considering the Changing Electricity Production Sources in Poland

This paper contains a comparison of air pollutant emissions of different vehicle types and a presentation of the issue of assessing the environmental impact of hybrid, conventional, and electric vehicles in terms of the changing electricity production sources in Poland over time. The research method used in this paper for hybrid and conventional vehicles was on-road testing of air pollutant emissions using the SEMTECH DS analyzer. Air pollutant emissions from electric vehicles were determined based on the authors’ analytical method involving air pollutant emission factors published annually in Poland by the National Centre for Emissions Management (KOBiZE). Measurements of on-road air pollutant emissions for hybrid and conventional vehicles were compared with electric vehicle emissions; however, the electric vehicle emissions covered the area of electricity production. The hybrid vehicle emissions recorded in on-road tests have been corrected for the emissions that arise from the production of the electricity consumed by the hybrid vehicle. The recovery phenomenon was not analyzed. The aim of this paper is to compare air pollutant emissions of electric vehicles with those of hybrid and conventional vehicles, considering the energy transition that has taken place in Poland in the last decade.