This document provides a comprehensive review of electric vehicles as an alternative to conventional vehicles. It analyzes factors such as environmental impacts, cost, energy consumption, and reliability. The review finds that electric vehicles provide significant environmental benefits and cost savings when the electricity is generated from non-fossil fuel sources like hydro or nuclear power. However, their reliability is less than gasoline vehicles due to issues like shorter battery life and range. The document concludes that electric vehicles may not be a better alternative in cold climates or areas relying on fossil fuels for electricity.

1. ELECTRIC VEHICLES AS AN ALTERNATIVE
TO CONVENTIONAL VEHICLES:
A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
Fady M. A Hassouna1,*
Reema Nassar2
Hamees Tubaleh3
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
2 Instructor, Department of Civil Engineering, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
3 Instructor, Department of Civil Engineering, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
10th Annual International Conference on
Civil Engineering, Athens, Greece, 2020

2. Introduction
• On a worldwide scale, 26 percent of primary
energy is consumed for the purpose of
transportation, and 23 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions are energy-related.
• Street traffic represents a 74 percent of the
transportation sector worldwide.

3. • Automobiles play a particular role for three reasons:
 First, cars dominate street traffic in most countries.
Second, car sales represent the greatest growth rates in the
world.
Third, there are alternative technologies for the drive train
available for automobiles, unlike, for example, alternative
technologies available for trucks.

4. • The current worldwide vehicle stock of 630 million may
grow to one billion by 2030. This anticipates that vehicle
production is expected to grow from 63 to 100 million
cars per year until 2030.
• To cope with the oil-security issue, many countries
worldwide are making substantial efforts to reduce the
dependence of their transportation sectors on petroleum
resources while fulfilling the sector’s fuel demands.

5. • In order to save energy and the environment, one
of the proposed solutions has been the electric
vehicle.
• Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected consume less
energy and to produce less gas emissions
(emissions that are produced by electricity power
plants, battery factories, etc.).
• An important question has recently been raised: Is
the electric vehicle the best solution for saving
energy and the environment.

6. Analysis and Discussion
• However several studies addressed the EVs as an
alternative to conventional vehicles, the majority
of these studies address this issue based on a
specific factor neglecting the others.
• In this study the literature that addressed the EVs
were analyzed based on factors of cost, energy
consumption, environmental impacts, and
reliability.

7. • In order to show the complete image, the interrelated
issues among these factors were quantified during all
stages of the vehicle life cycle, including:
Source of Electricity
Manufacturing
Process
Type of Car and
Batteries
Maintenance and
Operation

8. EnvironmentalAspects
Cost and Energy Consumption
Reliability
A
B
C
•The following aspects were addressed:

9. A. Environmental Aspects
• Electric vehicles do not produce gas emissions directly
during operation; rather, gas emissions are produced at
power plants in order to generate the electricity that is
used by these vehicles.
• Moreover, gas emissions are produced during the
manufacturing process of electric vehicles and the
batteries they require to run on.
• The amount of gas emissions produced to generate the
electricity that is needed to operate EVs depends on the
source of electricity (fossil fuel or non-fossil fuel).

10. B. Environmental Aspects
• To compare EVs and ICEVs based on cost is a very
complicated because of the interrelated issues among
several direct and indirect factors that affect the total
cost of the vehicle during its entire life cycle.
• Generally, the total cost during the life cycle of the
vehicles depends on direct and indirect factors. The main
direct factors are manufacturing, fuel, and operating
costs, whereas the main indirect factors are emission,
fuel and maintenance costs.

11. C. Reliability
• The reliability of EVs compared to ICEVs is one of the
unrecognized aspects in the majority of previous studies.
The range that EVs can travel continuously without
recharging, battery life, and charging time are the main
issues that affect the reliability of EVs.

12. Conclusions
 There is no significant environment benefit from
using EVs in countries where the major source of
electricity is fossil fuel, such as coal, due to an
insignificant reduction in CO2 emissions by EVs
compared to ICEVs. On the contrary, a significant
increase in SO2 and NOx could be obtained by
using EVs compared to ICEVs.
 In countries where the major source of electricity
is hydro or nuclear power, there is significant
environment benefit from using EVs, due to a
significant reduction in CO2 and all other
emissions, compared to ICEVs.

13.  Using EVs instead of ICEVs leads to a reduction in
the total cost of the vehicle during its life cycle. This
cost reduction is significant when the major source of
electricity is hydro or nuclear power. While the cost
reduction is insignificant when the major source of
electricity is fossil-fuel.
 Regardless of the source of electricity, the
maintenance costs as well as the cost of energy for EVs
is less than that of ICEVs. In addition, taxes,
registration, and parking costs for EVs are less than
those of ICEVs. However, the manufacturing cost of
EVs is higher than that of ICEVs, yet the overall cost
during the life cycle of EVs is still less than that of
ICEVs.

14.  Reliability of the EV is significantly less than that of
the ICEV. This is mainly due to battery issues. More
specifically, the range of EVs is still less than the range
of ICEVs, especially in cold-weather countries where
heating and ventilation of cabin space consumes high
amounts of prime battery energy. Moreover, the
relatively short battery life of EVs remains one of the
main factors that affect their reliability, since every
single charge will lead to a reduction in battery life,
and EVs that remain idle for extended periods of time
without charging may also lead to a reduction in
battery life.

15.  Charging time of EVs is another negative attribute that
affects the reliability of EVs, especially in developing
countries where there are not sufficient charging
stations or sufficient infrastructure facilities to serve
them. Likewise, using a home electricity supply
instead of a charging station will lead to a significant
increase in charging time.
 In cold-weather countries where the main source of
electricity is fossil fuel, the EV cannot be considered as
a better alternative of the ICEV, due to the following
factors: heating and ventilation of cabin space
consumes high amounts of prime battery energy;
insignificant cost reduction, and insignificant
environment benefits, compared to ICEV.

16. Thank You For Your Attention