Potential environmental impact of introduction of electric vehicles in private and public fleets: a case study in Cassino

For most developed countries, as well as developing countries, key sectors of the economy are still heavily dependent on hydrocarbons for energy production and transport. This has a negative impact on the environment which is increasingly polluted. With the aim of reducing polluting emissions and making cities greener and more sustainable, various actions, both at national and international level, have been promoted such as the development of low or zero emission engines. In this paper a simple methodology has been introduced, to perform an analysis of the impact, in terms of polluting emissions, induced by the gradual increasing changing within the vehicular fleet of electric or low emission vehicles, instead of traditional ones (i.e., gasoline and diesel engines). The analysis has been applied to the Cassino city, an Italian medium-size town and the study has included the analyses of both public and private vehicle fleet, of the road network and the development of a microscopic traffic flow model. Six scenarios with different rates of electric vehicles instead of conventional ones in vehicular fleet have been performed. This method can be a valid aid for impact assessment relating to incentive policies for electricity mobility in medium-size inhabited centers.