Emissions

What emissions does a vehicle produce during a trip? Route emissions provide a detailed breakdown, taking into account the embedded, operational, and end of life emissions. The emissions are expressed in grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (gCO₂eq). An imperial conversion is also available.

How it works

Emissions can be retrieved for any route that is calculated with the Chargetrip API. Once requested it will return a breakdown across three scopes; embedded, operational and end-of-life. Each of these scopes are calculated using comprehensive formulas to produce the best practicable estimates. Furthermore, we provide detailed component level data, allowing you to build up a comprehensive emissions summary.

A quick overview of what each scope contains and how it works can be found below. A more comprehensive explanation will be available in our forthcoming white-paper.

Embedded scope

The embedded scope estimates the share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that were produced when the vehicle was being made. This estimate includes material acquisition, transport and production of components, assembly of the vehicle and battery, and initial vehicle distribution.

Operational scope

The operational scope is an estimate of direct and indirect GHG emissions that result from driving a vehicle over a given route. The primary component of operational emissions is the production, distribution, and consumption of fuel or electricity. Other components are vehicle maintenance and road infrastructure.

To get these estimations as close as possible, the formula takes into account the projected demand on the energy grid alongside the local climate and season.

End-of-life scope

The end-of-life scope estimates the share of GHG emissions that will be produced during the decommissioning process of a vehicle for a given route. These include the disposal of the vehicle’s major components and body.

Use cases

Route emissions can illustrate both the benefits and the limitations of driving electric from a climate perspective. An EV driver app for eMSPs or CPOs can show the emissions impact of an electrified route across their station network. A rental agency can compare their internal combustion engine vehicles to similar electric vehicles and show the estimated emissions for each.

Another scenario might be a company that wants to reach their climate goals and aims to go electric. By using the route emission API they can get an estimate of their prospective emissions savings.

Implementation

Use the route ID of a planned route to request information needed regarding emissions. Retrieve aggregated emissions or a detailed breakdown, by requesting any of the relevant fields.

Get in touch to discuss the best implementation of emissions for your business.