An Estimation of Emission Patterns from Vehicle Traffic Highlighting Decarbonisation Effects from Increased e-fleet in Areas Surrounding the City of Rzeszow (Poland)

Campisi, T.; MÄ…dziel, M.; Nikiforiadis, A.; Basbas, S.; Tesoriere, G.

After several months of lockdown and the freezing of many human activities, Europe has entered phase III of the management of the COVID19 emergency. The pandemic made necessary to give great attention in the economic recession and also to give emphasis on the decarbonisation of our economy. While the European Commission reaffirms its determination to move forward with the European Green Deal and announces a green recovery plan, many governments are rapidly putting in place public stimulus programmes to boost the economy and restore jobs. After years of rising CO2 emissions from road transport and the lack of investment in clean technologies, in the early 2020s an unprecedented growth in sales of zero and low emission cars was observed in the EU. The three main pillars for the success of e-mobility are the spread of electric vehicles, the carbon-neutral production processes and the use of energy from renewable sources. The present work shows the usefulness of traffic simulation tools for the comparison of existing and future scenarios, paying particular attention to the variation of the percentage of electric vehicles in the fleet. More specifically, a specific emission model is being used in the case of a roundabout in the city of Rzeszow, Poland and the results underline the importance of preventive analysis for the implementation of optimal transport decarbonisation strategies, as well as they lay the groundwork for future research steps. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.