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The purpose of this paper is to explore carbon emission reduction of electric vehicles from the perspective of electricity consumption.

Electric vehicles (EVs) consume large amounts of electricity, thereby generating large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, so there is an urgent need to consider whether EVs have greater potential for reducing carbon emissions than other modes of transport. In this paper, the carbon emission reduction potential (CERP) coefficients of EVs are examined under three different scenarios from an interprovincial electricity trading perspective. Scenario analysis was used to quantify the CERP of EVs in 18 provinces in China.

The results show the following: (1) The higher the proportion of general-fuel vehicles in all transportation, the higher the CERP of EVs. (2) Interprovincial power trading affects the proportion of coal power consumed in a province, and the higher the proportion of clean power in the purchased power, the lower the proportion of coal power consumed in that province. (3) The proportion of coal power in the electricity consumption of a province is correlated negatively with the CERP of EVs in that province.

This paper quantifies the CERP of EVs compared with other modes of transport and gives provinces a more intuitive understanding of the CERP of EVs. Furthermore, we derive the carbon emission shift out of each province via the electricity trading paths among provinces, analyzing the impacts of the variability between different provinces on EV carbon emissions.