Comparison of pollutant emission associated with the operation of passenger cars with internal combustion engines and passenger cars with electric motors

Abstract Energy consumption and pollutant emission aspects were ascertained for cars under traffic conditions: in cities, outside cities, on motorways and expressways, with the use of data from the inventory of emissions from road transport in Poland in 2018. The values of characteristics of energy consumption under model traffic conditions, as well as pollutant emissions and energy consumption of cars with internal combustion engines and cars with electric motors, constituted the basis for further analyses and conclusions about the characteristics of the vehicles under the study in terms of energy consumption and pollutant emissions. As a result of the research, it was found in the case of the use of electric drives, a very significant decrease in energy consumption—by 70% and the emission of non-methane volatile organic compounds—at the level of 90%. In the case of the emission of nitrogen oxides, there is a great advantage in relation to cars with compression-ignition engines, while the emission of nitrogen oxides from cars with spark-ignition engines is about two times lower. It was found that the emission of particulate matter for electric cars is about three times higher than for cars with compression-ignition engines and almost six times higher than for cars with spark-ignition engines. On the other hand, the impact on carbon dioxide emissions is small—less than 10%.