LAUSR

Abstract The concept of an electric light truck (ELT) with green environmental protection has been accepted by governments and purchasers with the promotion of Made in China (2025) and the Blue Sky Protection Campaign. However, the ELT's characteristics of low gas emissions and zero pollution should be further investigated. An electric light truck emissions index (ELTEI) is established to explore the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of ELT. The ELTEI considers electricity carbon intensity and vehicle technical performance that includes temperature-capacity compensation coefficient, battery attenuation coefficient, energy consumption per unit load and battery system energy density. Results of a case study in China show that sub-zero temperature leads to significant fluctuations in the temperature-capacity compensation coefficient, which can increase the GHG emissions of ELT in the northern provinces. In the southern and central provinces, ELT can replace diesel light truck to reduce GHG emissions after improving the battery attenuation coefficient by 15% when ELT is utilized for 4 years. Compared with increasing the battery weight to decrease the value of energy consumption per unit load, increasing the battery system energy density to reduce the vehicle weight can fundamentally lower GHG emissions. The reduction ratio is inversely proportional to the minimum average temperature in the first quarter by reducing the electricity carbon intensity to minimize the GHG emissions of ELT. Insights derived from this study can provide available suggestions for research on the GHG emissions of ELT.