Sustainable Road Transport: Alternative Fuels, Electrical Vehicles and Environmental Effects

Abstract

Transportation sector enables the transfer of goods and services that forms the basis of the economy and the work of people. It supports global productivity and is a key for economic growth. On the other hand, transportation is largely based on fossil fuels and generates greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, it releases other pollutants and creates local air pollution. Although the air pollutant emissions of road transport of Turkey have decreased over the years due to new emission standards, greenhouse gas emisions of the same sector in Turkey have been sharply increased. Therefore, there is an urgent necessity of focusing on sustainable transport strategies to reduce emissions from transportation sector. The sustainability of the road transportation depends on alternative fuels and electric vehicles. Alternative fuels like biodiesel and bioethanol have already been used in motor vehicles for many years. Using alternative fuels reduce the release of air pollutant emissions except nitrogen oxides. However, alternative fuel production generally depends on local farming and not common every part of the world. Electric vehicles are a hope for road transport sustainability. Hybrid electric cars consume less fossil fuel and full electric cars run on only by electricity. If electricity comes from an alternative energy source, transportation by electric vehicles will be much more sustainable since it does not produce any greenhouse gas or air pollutants. This paper briefly discusses motor vehicle air pollution problem and gives some information about Turkish road transport sector emissions. Furthermore, it reviews sustainable road transport options mainly by focusing on alternative fuels and electric vehicles. Also, there exist some suggestions for policy makers about the sustainability of transportation sector.

Keywords: Alternative fuels, electrical vehicles, environmental impacts, motor vehicles, sustainable road transport, Turkey

DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/5-3-14