Are we ready for alternative fuel transportation systems in Canada: A regional vignette

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the financial feasibility and environmental impact of the electric light duty vehicles (LD-EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell light duty vehicles (LD-HFCVs) use in Canada. A life cycle thinking based approach has been proposed to compare costs and emissions of transportation based on electric and Hydrogen with traditional fossil fuel. The carbon offset saving was used to quantify the economic impact of GHG reduction. The carbon taxes for selected provinces were recommended as a potential policy implementation to reduce transport based GHG emissions. The results indicate that the provinces with low emission factor electric grids have a higher potential for LD-EV based transportation system in terms of costs and footprint. Presently LD-HFCVs are less desirable due to high purchase and operational cost. Development of a Hydrogen based transportation system through the production of cost effective hydrogen is preferable for provinces with a higher emission factor electric grids.