Regionally differentiated promotion of electric vehicles in China considering environmental and human health impacts

Private passenger vehicles, with its high emissions of CO(2) and air pollutants, poses a severe threat to global climate and human health, particularly for a large developing country like China. Although both energy efficiency improvement of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and the wide adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could contribute to reducing emissions, how they should be jointly implemented in provinces with a heterogeneous context to maximize their net benefits remains insufficiently explored. Here, based on an integrated modeling framework associated with one factual (REF) and four counterfactual scenarios to explore the priority and best-ranked ordering of both EVs’ penetration and high energy-efficient ICEVs in 31 Chinese provinces to achieve the most environmental and human health benefits from 2011 to 2018. The results demonstrate that electrification of the passenger fleet, which is charged by a slightly cleaner power source relative to 2011, yields significant co-benefits of CO(2) reduction and air quality improvement. Compared with REF, the fleet electrification scenario would lead to 3167 cases of avoided mortality and attain US$4.269 billion of health benefits in 2018, accounting for 0.03% of China’s gross domestic product. Nonetheless, highly efficient ICEVs are found to harbor decarbonization potential and health benefits in northern China. Based on these results, Sichuan, Hebei and seven other provinces in east China should promote EVs imminently; conversely, eight provinces with a high share of thermal power must continually advance their implementation of ICEVs in the near future. Such prioritization of EVs and ICEV development at the provincial level provides timely insights for devising tailored policies regarding passenger car transition and for maximizing climate and health benefits based on regional heterogeneity.