Economics -energy market Auto emission

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Economics 473 Spring 2020 Auto Emissions Assignment

Answers are due by noon, Wednesday, April 22, via D2L submission (25 points) Last year I needed to buy a new car and decided to get a hybrid – specifically a 2019 hybrid Toyota Avalon. It runs on gasoline, but also has a battery and electric motor that stretches how far it will go on a gallon of gasoline. It gets more than double the MPG that my old Lexus got. I also considered buying a plug-in electric vehicle, such as a Tesla Model Y. In this assignment you will compare the environmental impact of operating a hybrid vehicle like my Avalon with that of a plug-in electric vehicle like a Tesla Model Y. This might seem like a no- brainer, since a plug-in electric has no tail-pipe emissions. But keep in mind that a plug-in electric vehicle must charge its battery with electricity drawn from the local electricity grid, and the generators that supply the grid have emissions. The assignment has three parts: (1) Compare the CO2 emissions of a hybrid vehicle to those of a plug-in electric vehicle. You can compare a hybrid Toyota Avalon to a Tesla Model Y, as I suggest above, or pick a different pair of hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles to compare. For your comparison you can assume that the car is driven 10,000 miles/month and that the location is Tucson (so electricity comes from TEP). FYI, information about electricity generation emissions for TEP may be found at: https://www.tep.com/wp-content/uploads/TEP-EEI-ESG-2019.pdf (2) In addition, compare emissions other than CO2 for the two vehicles. (3) Explain your overall comparison of the environmental impact of operating the two different vehicles.