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The potential impacts of electric vehicles on air quality in the urban areas
of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain)

Article  in  Atmospheric Environment · December 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.048

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 Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Atmospheric Environment
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv

The potential impacts of electric vehicles on air quality in the urban

areas of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain)
A. Soret a, *, M. Guevara a, J.M. Baldasano a, b
a
Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Jordi Girona, 29, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
b
Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), av. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

h i g h l i g h t s

Modelling air quality impacts upon EV introduction in Barcelona and Madrid.

EV offers potential air quality improvements, especially related to NO2 and CO.

Lower improvements related to PM due to the high weight of non-exhaust emissions.

A high EV introduction is required (26e40%) to significantly improve air quality.

Electricity generation emissions due to EV charging imply slight NO2 rises (<3 mg m3).

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This work analyses the potential air quality improvements resulting from three fleet electrification
Received 28 January 2014 scenarios (~13, 26 and 40%) by replacing conventional vehicles with Electric Battery Vehicles (EBVs),
Received in revised form Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs). This study has been per-
16 September 2014
formed for the cities of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), where road transport is the primary emission
Accepted 18 September 2014
Available online 19 September 2014
source. In these urban areas, several air quality problems are present, mainly related to NO2 and par-
ticulate matter. The WRF-ARW/HERMESv2/CMAQ model system has been applied at high spatial
(1  1 km2) and temporal (1 h) resolution. The results show that fleet electrification offers a potential for
Keywords:
Air quality modelling
emission abatement, especially related to NOx and CO. Regarding the more ambitious scenario (~40%
Air quality management fleet electrification), reductions of 11% and 17% of the total NOx emissions are observed in Barcelona and
Emission inventory Madrid respectively. These emissions reductions involve air quality improvements in NO2 maximum
Electric vehicles hourly values up to 16%: reductions up to 30 and 35 mg m3 in Barcelona and Madrid, respectively.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle Furthermore, an additional scenario has been defined considering electric generation emissions asso-
ciated with EBVs and PHEVs charging from a combined-cycle power plant. These charging emissions
would produce slight NO2 increases in the downwind areas of <3 mg m3. Thus, fleet electrification
would improve urban air quality even when considering emissions associated with charging electric
vehicles. However, two further points should be considered. First, fleet electrification cannot be
considered a unique solution, and other management strategies may be defined. This is especially
important with respect to particulate matter emissions, which are not significantly reduced by fleet
electrification (<5%) due to the high weight of non-exhaust emissions. Second, a significant introduction
of electric vehicles (26e40%) involving all vehicle categories is required to improve urban air quality.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction in cities, where exceedances of air quality standards occur. In 2011,

Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health (WHO,
2011; 2013). A significant proportion of Europe's population live
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: albert.soret@bsc.es (A. Soret).
42% of traffic stations reported exceedances of the nitrogen dioxide
(NO2) annual limit value (40 mg m3). Regarding particulate matter
(PM) with a diameter up to 10 mm (PM10), the 24-h limit value
(50 mg m3) was exceeded at 43% of traffic sites. In terms of po-
tential to harm human health, the finer PM; up to 2.5 mm (PM2.5) is
the fraction of most concern. The PM2.5 target value threshold
(25 mg m3) was exceeded at 10% of traffic sites (EEA, 2013). In

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.048
1352-2310/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
52 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63
Spain, higher NO2 levels occur in major urban areas such as Bar-
celona and Madrid. The annual limit value was exceeded in both
areas in 2011, while the hourly limit value (200 mg m3) was also
exceeded in Madrid. These areas also recorded air quality problems
related to PM10, while the PM2.5 target value threshold was not
exceeded (MAGRAMA, 2012).
The largest contribution of atmospheric pollutant emissions in
urban areas today is from on-road transport (Colvile et al., 2001;
Belis et al., 2013). In recent years, there have been significant
efforts to study the effects of strategies designed to reduce on-
road traffic emissions and the subsequent impacts of these
emissions on air quality. Currently, the main objectives of these
strategies are either 1) reducing the emission per vehicle by
adopting lower-polluting fuels and technologies (fleet renewal by
updating the vehicle emission standards, e.g., Che et al., 2011;
natural gas vehicles, e.g., Gonçalves et al., 2009; fuel cell vehicles,
e.g., Stephens-Romero et al., 2009; use of biofuels, (e.g., Liaquat
et al., 2010), or 2) adopting mobility management strategies to
reduce either the maximum speed of circulation (e.g., Baldasano
et al., 2010), or the vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) (e.g.,
Soret et al., 2011).
Fleet electrification is one of the strategies under consideration
for improving urban air quality. It comprises a wide spectrum of
technology options that range from the early stages of hybrid ve-
hicles to pure electric battery vehicles (EBVs). Hybrid electric ve-
hicles (HEVs) represent the first step away from a purely
combustion engine vehicle, allowing reduced fuel consumption
compared to conventional gasoline or diesel vehicles (CVs).
Furthermore, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can be also
charged from a power grid and can be driven in electric mode over
longer distances and higher speeds than HEVs (Pistoia, 2010).
Finally, EBVs are entirely propelled by stored electricity with no
direct exhaust emissions. Thus EBVs and PHEVs (hereafter referred
to as electric vehicles, EVs) would help to reduce road transport
emissions. Because of the limited driving range in electric mode,
EVs are particularly suitable to improve urban air quality, where
short distances and low speeds are prevalent. Furthermore, higher
potential benefits of reducing air emissions are found in highly
populated areas (Ayalon et al., 2013). Depending on the type of
power plant which supplies electric energy for EV, other potential
benefits that can be attributable to fleet electrification are an in-
crease in energy efficiency, and reductions in: energy dependence,
fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (ETC/ACC,
2009).
However, EVs entail an additional load on the electricity power
system, resulting in increased emissions from electrical generation,
dependent on power mix. EPRI (2007a,b) forecasted fleet electri-
fication in the United States and determined that their electric
demand will cause an increase in coal-fired capacity. That study
showed significant GHG emission reductions. However, modest
effects on nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) were
found, and there was even the possibility of increases in PM in
certain areas. In this way, several studies have explored emission
reductions based on fleet electrification, considering various factors
related to the percentage of electric vehicle introduction and the
power source affected by EV demand (e.g., Jansen et al., 2010; Ji
et al., 2012). A clear majority of these studies focus on vehicle
charging at night, coinciding with periods of lower electrical de-
mand; this approach helps to improve the overall utility system
performance and allows for the least expensive electrical produc-
tion (Parks et al., 2007). Beyond emissions analyses, the number of
studies concerning the air quality impact of fleet electrification is
lower, and, in most cases, the spatial resolution used (EPRI, 2007b:
36  36 km2) does not allow for extracting urban air quality con-
clusions. In other cases, despite the spatial resolution increase (e.g.,
Thompson et al., 2009, 2011; 12  12 and 2  2 km2) only ozone
(O3) variations are analysed.
The main objective of this work is to analyse how fleet electri-
fication (introduction of EBVs, PHEVs and HEVs) would reduce
present urban emissions and improve air quality levels (NO2, PM10,
PM2.5, O3, SO2 and CO) in the urban areas of Barcelona and Madrid.
Three fleet electrification scenarios are compared with the Base
Case scenario. Furthermore, for the case of Barcelona, an additional
scenario has been defined, considering overnight electric genera-
tion emissions associated with EV charging in a natural gas
combined-cycle power plant on the outskirts of Barcelona city. The
state-of-the-art WRF-ARW/HERMESv2/CMAQ model system has
been applied at high spatial (1  1 km2) and temporal (1 h) reso-
lution. Detailed information about on-road traffic and power gen-
eration has been collected as input information for the emission
model. This study has been performed for an air pollution episode
(worst-case) that affected the Iberian Peninsula during 2011.
Section 2 presents the applied methodology: modelling system
and study scenarios. Then, Section 3 examines model simulations:
emissions and air quality. Finally, in Section 4, the main conclusions
are discussed.
2. Methodology
2.1. Modelling system
The air quality impacts of fleet electrification in the cities of
Barcelona and Madrid were analysed using the Community Mul-
tiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model (Byun and Schere, 2006). The
meteorological fields for CMAQ were generated by the Weather
Research and Forecasting (WRF) meteorological model (Michalakes
et al., 2004; Skamarock and Klemp, 2008) and the High Elective
Resolution Emission Modelling System v2.0 (HERMESv2.0)
(Guevara et al., 2013) provided the emissions for CMAQ. HER-
MESv2.0 is a high-resolution emission model which uses mainly
bottom-up approaches and Spanish local data.
To obtain adequate boundary and initial conditions, the
modelling system was initially run on two regional scales: the
European domain (12 km  12 km and 1 h) and the Iberian
Peninsula domain (4 km  4 km and 1 h) (Fig. 1a)). A one-way
nesting was performed from one domain to the other to retrieve
the meteorological and chemical conditions to the inner domains.
The final working domains cover areas of 148  148 km2 and
148  160 km2 (Barcelona and Madrid domains, respectively).
These domains are configured with high horizontal (1 km  1 km)
and temporal (1 h) resolution. 33 s vertical levels are defined, with
12 characterising the planetary boundary layer, for both meteoro-
logical and air quality simulations. The top of the model is defined
at 50 hPa to resolve the troposphereestratosphere exchanges
properly. The specifications and parameterisations for the WRF-
ARW and CMAQ models are summarised in Table 1. Further infor-
mation is available in the Supplementary Material.
2.2. HERMESv2.0 and specific emission factors
HERMESv2.0 (Guevara et al., 2013) is a high-resolution emission
model specifically developed for Spain; it updates and improves the
original HERMES2004 model (Baldasano et al., 2008). It combines a
comprehensive database with updated methodologies for esti-
mating anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. Given the main
emission sources regarding fleet electrification, the specific mod-
ules for estimating road transport emissions and combustion pro-
cesses in energy industries are detailed below.
Combustion emissions from the natural gas combined-cycle
plants have been estimated according to data measured on an
 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63 53

Fig. 1. Areas of study. 1a) Domains of study: two regional domains (Europe and Iberian Peninsula) and two final domains (Barcelona and Madrid); 1b) Barcelona final domain; 1c)
Madrid final domain; 1d and 1e) detailed images of Barcelona and Madrid cities: Barcelona and Madrid boundaries (red lines), air quality stations (blue points) and natural gas
combined-cycle plants Besos 3e4 (yellow cross). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

hourly basis, provided by the Catalan Atmospheric Emission
Network (XEAC, personal communication). To estimate the emis-
sions increases due to the energy demand for EV charging, specific
emissions factors have been calculated from these measured
emissions (Table 2).
Emissions from road transport (exhaust emissions, gasoline
evaporation and road vehicle tyre and brake wear) are estimated
according to the Tier 3 method described in EEA (2009), which is
fully incorporated in version 5.1 of the COPERT 4 software. This tool
offers a comprehensive database with information on emission
factors as a function of the circulation speed for a total of 256
vehicle categories (a comparison of those reported for the most
common vehicles and for a typical speed circulation in urban areas
is performed in Soret et al., 2013). Additionally, HERMESv2.0 also
considers the emissions of particulate matter caused by resus-
pension from paved road (Pay et al., 2011).
This set of emission methodologies is combined with a digitised
traffic network (Tele Atlas® MultiNet®, 2011) that contains specific
information by road stretches for traffic intensity (daily average
traffic, [vehicles$day1]) and average circulation speed [km h1].
For the cities of Barcelona and Madrid, this information was ob-
tained by post-processing the combination of traffic intensity from
over 2575 (Barcelona) and 3198 (Madrid) observation stations, and
19 park composition profiles based on real circulation data (12 for
Barcelona and 7 for Madrid, respectively).
EEA, (2009) does not describe specific emission factors for EBVs,
PHEVs and HEVs, but specific emission factors have been defined
for this study. First, regarding exhaust and evaporative emissions,
these emissions are regarded as equal to zero for the km travelled in
electric driving mode. For hybrid drive mode, the same emission
factors are assumed for PHEVs and HEVs. For passenger cars (PCs)
driven in hybrid mode, EEA, (2009) defines emission factors for
every pollutant but PM. After a literature review, the authors
decided to include an emission factor of 0.004 g PM km1 (Graham,
2005). As EEA, 2009 considers that the coarse fraction is negligible
in vehicle exhaust emissions, the emission factor of
0.004 g PM km1 is considered PM2.5. For light-duty vehicles (LDVs)
driven in hybrid mode, no emission factors are defined within EEA,
(2009), authors have assumed the same for the Diesel LDV Euro
IV<3.5t. Similarly, for hybrid driven buses the Buses Euro V urban 15-
18t emission factors are assumed. Finally, regarding non-exhaust
emissions (tyre and brake wear and resuspension), the same
emission factors considered for CVs have been assumed for EBVs,
PHEVs and HEVs.
2.3. Scenarios: fleet electrification and energy demand
To study the degree of fleet electrification required to reduce the
present air quality problems, three working hypotheses have been
defined: low, medium and high. Table 3 shows the percentage of
54 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63

Table 1
Low: a feasible percentage of fleet electrification is considered

Specific parameterizations used in the modelling system for CMAQ and for WRF- (~13%). The percentages of VKT in electric drive mode (PCs,
ARW.
LDVs, buses, mopeds and motorcycles) are 9.7 and 9.1% in Bar-
Model Meteorology Chemistry celona and Madrid, respectively (Table 4 and Fig. 2). The per-
Model version WRF-ARW v3 CMAQ v5.0.1 centages in hybrid drive mode (PCs, LDVs and buses) are 3.6 and
Domains D1: 480, 400, 33, D1: 480, 400, 15, 12  12 4.3% in Barcelona and Madrid, respectively.
(Nx,Ny,Nz, 12  12 D2: 400, 400, 15, 4  4 km
Medium: in this case, fleet electrification is much more ambi-
Hor. Res.) D2: 400, 400, 33, Final Bar.: 148, 148, 33, 1  1 km
tious (~26%). VKT in electric drive mode: 19.4 and 18.1%, and in
(33 sigma vertical 4  4 km Final Mad..: 148, 160, 33, 1  1 km
layers cover Final Bar.: 148, hybrid drive mode: 7.1 and 8.6% in Barcelona and Madrid,
the 148, 33, 1  1 km respectively.
troposphere Final Mad..: 148,
High: significant electrification is considered (~40%). VKT in
(up to 50 hPa) 160, 33, 1  1 km electric drive mode: 29.2 and 27.2%, and in hybrid drive mode:
with 12 under
the PBL.
10.6 and 12.9% in Barcelona and Madrid, respectively.
Initial and Analysis ECMWF D1: LMDz-INCA2
boundary 0.5  0.5 Rest: BC: Parent domain For the Low, Medium and High scenarios, it is assumed that EV
conditions IC: 24-h Spin-up charging demand is based on overnight electricity generation from
Parameterizations Boundary l.:YSU Chemical Model: cb5cl-ae5-aq
renewables, nuclear or other sources of the Spanish energy system
Microphisics: Aerosol Model: AERO5
WSM3 Adv scheme: Horiz (Yamartino mass- far from the demand. Thus, it will not imply additional emissions in
Cumulus Scheme: conserving)/Vert. (Piecewise Parabolic) the specific fossil-fuel power plants of the selected domains. Night-
Kain-Fritsch Dif: Eddy diffusivity theory time charging allows shorter differences between peak and off-
Land Surf. Mod.: Aerosol d. v.: aero-depv2 peak demand, improving overall utility system performance
Noah Dry d. r.: Models-3þ Cl species
Long Wave: RRTM
(Thompson et al., 2011), and promoting the generation of energy
Short wave: using base-load power plants (e.g. nuclear) (ETC/ACC, 2009; Jansen
Dudhia et al., 2010). Regarding renewable energies, by increasing off-peak
demand, EV can interact synergistically with wind energy
(Hedegaard et al., 2012). The load profile of a night-time charging
regime is well matched to the generating profile of a wind resource,
which also tends to peak at night (T&E, 2009).
To contextualize this assumption within the Spanish electricity
Table 2
system, it has to be noted that the estimated energy demand for EV
Emission factors for a natural gas combined-cycle.
charging (High scenario) represents ~0.4% of total daily energy
NOx PM10 CO VOC SOx demand in Spain (further explained below). Furthermore, the
g MWh1 222.9 1.73 10.3 23.7 18.3 Spanish electricity demand shows significant differences between
peak and off-peak demand. Differences between: ~12.000 and
~20.000 MW (REE, 2012). The weight of renewable energy in de-
introduction of electric drive mode (EBVs, PHEVs or HEVs) and mand coverage was 33% (16% corresponds to wind power energy),
hybrid drive mode (PHEVs or HEVs) replacing CVs for each vehicle and 21% of nuclear energy during 2011 (REE, 2012). According to
category (PCs, LDVs, buses, mopeds and motorcycles). REE, (2011), by considering smart charging at night-time shorter
Fleet electrification has been considered in the cities of Barce- differences between peak and off-peak demand would be
lona and Madrid, where the total vehicle-kilometres-travelled observed; improving the overall utility system performance and
(VKT) are estimated as 13,462,321 and 25,787,145, respectively. promoting the integration of a greater volume of renewable energy,
Electric and hybrid drive modes replace a percentage of the current especially wind energy. Therefore it is feasible to assume a signif-
vehicular fleet, maintaining a constant ratio of the current cate- icant contribution of these energy sources (renewables and
gories of CVs instead of replacing only old vehicles (greatest pol-
luters). It is not in the scope of this work to study fleet renewal
(updating Euro standards, updating fuel consumption, etc.) based
on fleet electrification.
Fig. 2 shows the percentage of VKT by vehicle category for the
Base Case and for the three hypotheses of fleet electrification in Table 3
Barcelona and Madrid. The final percentage of electric and hybrid Percentage of EVs and HEVs introduced for each vehicle category in the cities of
Barcelona and Madrid.
drive modes depends on the fleet distribution of each city. For
example, an introduction of 30% of electric drive mode in PCs (High Category Mode of transport Base case Percentage of EV
hypothesis) means that the 18.4% of the total VKT in Barcelona will and HEV
introduced for each
be accomplished by PCs in electric driving mode. In Madrid, this
vehicle category
percentage is higher (24.4%) because of higher value of the total
VKT of PCs. On the other hand, fleet electrification implies a Low Medium High

reduction of the VKT of CVs: e.g., VKT of Diesel PCs (Euro III) are Passenger cars (PCs) Electric 0% 10% 20% 30%
reduced from 25.1 to 13.8% in Barcelona. Hybrid <1% 5% 10% 15%
Light-duty vehicles (LDVs) Electric 0% 5% 10% 15%
These three hypotheses of fleet electrification lead to define the
Hybrid 0% 5% 10% 15%
scenarios of study: Heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) Electric 0% 0% 0% 0%
Hybrid 0% 0% 0% 0%

Base case scenario (BC): current situation (2011), in which no Buses Electric 0% 5% 10% 15%
fleet electrification configuration is applied. Hybrid 0% 5% 10% 15%
Mopeds Electric 0% 15% 30% 45%
Motorcycles Electric 0% 15% 30% 45%
 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63 55

Fig. 2. Fraction of VKT for the study scenarios per vehicle category. Vehicle categories that represent <0.1% of the total VKT are not included in the figure.

nuclear) regarding EV charging. A description of the Spanish elec-
tricity system is included in the Supplementary Material.
The energy demand for EV charging has been estimated based
on the energy conversion factors for each vehicle category as
described in: the literature, the catalogue of EVs homologated in
Spain and technical descriptions from automobile manufacturers
(Table 5). The same demand is assumed for EBVs and PHEVs for a
selected vehicle category. Furthermore, a conversion efficiency ra-
tio from the electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels
has been considered: 80% (EPRI, 2007b; Berry et al., 2009). Ac-
cording to this, for example, the electric demand for EV charging for
the High scenario is estimated as 909 and 1842 MWh day1 in
56 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63

Table 4 1997; Perez et al., 2004). During the period of study, a well-
Percentage of VKT in electric and hybrid mode considering all the vehicle categories developed land-sea breeze regime dominated the local atmo-
in Barcelona and Madrid per scenario. And the energy demand estimation due to EV
charging.
spheric dynamics (see supplementary material). Madrid is located
in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, where convective thermal
City Low Medium High and High þ demand phenomena control the pollutant dynamics (Milla
n et al., 1997).
scenario scenario scenarios
These atmospheric processes affected the pollutant dynamics
% VKT Electric Barcelona 9.7% 19.4% 29.2% involving their accumulation. The primary air quality problems
% VKT Electric Madrid 9.1% 18.1% 27.2%
during the study period were related to NO2 and PM10. The NO2
% VKT Hybrid Barcelona 3.6% 7.1% 10.6%
% VKT Hybrid Madrid 4.3% 8.6% 12.9% hourly limit value (200 mg m3) was exceeded in Barcelona and
Total fleet ~13% ~26% ~40% Madrid. PM10 daily levels exceed the 24-h limit value in Barcelona
electrification (50 mg m3), while in Madrid those levels were close to the limit
MWh day1 Barcelona 303 606 909
value. Regarding secondary pollutants, the solar radiation and
MWh day1 Madrid 614 1228 1842
temperature are lower in October than in summer, thus reducing
photochemical reactions. O3 hourly levels were under 120 mg m3
(the population information threshold is 180 mg m3).
Table 5
Energy conversion factors for each vehicle category used to estimate EV charging
3. Results
demand.

PCs LDVs Buss Mopeds Motorcycles In this section, emission and air quality model results of the
kWh km1 0.2 0.35 1.26 0.03 0.06 1 km  1 km simulations are presented. The WRF-ARW/
Source Parks et al., 2007 and EPRI, 2007b BYD, MIET, MIET, 2013 HERMESv2/CMAQ modelling system has been evaluated for the
ETC/ACC, 2009 and MIET, 2013 2013
available air quality stations of Barcelona (7) and Madrid (19)
2013
(Fig. 1d) and e)). The model evaluation is shown in the
Supplementary Material.

Barcelona and Madrid, respectively (Table 4). It represents ~0.4% of
total daily energy demand in Spain.
Furthermore, another scenario has been defined (5 in total) in
order to analyse the higher potential impact of EV charging:

High þ demand: the same as the High scenario but with energy
demand for EV charging based on available power plants. This
scenario has been defined only for Barcelona because there are
no power plants within the Madrid's domain.
In the High þ demand scenario, EV demand is based on over-
night electricity generation (from 23 to 06 UTC) from a natural gas
combined-cycle plant located in Barcelona (Besos 3e4). This power
plant has been selected, over other power plants located far from
Barcelona, in order to analyse the higher impact due to EV charging.
Fig. 3 shows the hourly electricity generated during the study
period (3e5 October, 2011) and the estimated increase due to the
EV charging.
2.4. Selection of the studied period (3e5 october, 2011)
The air quality impacts of fleet electrification have been ana-
lysed for a critical episode of air pollution affecting the entire Ibe-
rian Peninsula: 3e5 October, 2011 (worst-case). This period has
been selected based on air quality monitoring data but also
considering weekdays in order to focus the study on the usual
traffic circulation patterns.
From the synoptic point of view, the episode of 3e5 October,
2011 is characterised by a high pressure system situated over the
Iberian Peninsula. This induced a western recirculation over the
Iberian Peninsula (see supplementary material). These conditions
dominate 45% of the annual transport pattern over the north-
eastern Iberian Peninsula and 36% in the central Iberian Peninsula
(Jorba et al., 2004). These situations lead to weak synoptic forcing.
Thus, mesoscale phenomena, induced by the topography of each
region, dominate circulation patterns.
Barcelona is situated in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, in a
coastal area characterised by a very complex terrain. The presence
of sea breezes and the development of a thermal boundary layer
induce the layering and accumulation of pollutants (Mill
an et al.,
3.1. Emissions
3.1.1. Base case scenario; current situation
In the cities of Barcelona and Madrid, road transport is the main
emission source for NOx, PM10 PM2.5 and CO. Table 6 shows the
daily average emissions for the period of study. In Madrid, traffic
emissions represent 69% of the total NOx emissions; in Barcelona,
this percentage is lower: 40% (Fig. 4a and b). In Barcelona, port and
energy industries emissions have a significant weight, representing
the 29 and the 13% of the total NOx emissions, respectively.
Regarding PM10 emissions, the contribution of traffic emissions
is much more significant: 80 and 90% for Barcelona and Madrid,
respectively (77 and 89% concerning PM2.5, respectively). PM10
exhaust emissions represent ~40% of the total road traffic emissions
(~30% regarding PM2.5). The rest is due to non-exhaust emissions:
resuspension and brake, tyre and road abrasion.
Fig. 4c, d, e and f compare the VKT per vehicle categories and the
corresponding road transport emissions. While the VKT travelled
by passenger cars represent 61 and 81% of the total VKT, the relative
weights of these emissions are lower: 38 and 43% of the total NOx
emissions in Barcelona and Madrid, respectively. Other means of
transport are greater polluters. For example, in Madrid, the VKT of
buses and heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) represent 9% of the total
VKT, but their NOx emissions are 49% of the total NOx traffic
emissions. This also affects the rest of the pollutants. In Barcelona,
with a large number of two-wheeled vehicles, CO emission from
motorcycles represents 64% of total transport CO emissions, while
its VKT in only 12%.
3.1.2. Fleet electrification scenarios: low, medium, high scenarios
The emission reductions are described below for the road
transport sector and for the total emissions. The analysis is focused
on the differences between the Base case and High (~40% fleet
electrification) scenarios. However, the differences of the Low
(~13%) and Medium (~26%) scenarios are proportional.
Fleet electrification implies emission reductions in all the pol-
lutants analysed. These reductions depend on three main factors:

Percentage of electrification considered: Low, Medium and
High.
 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63 57

Fig. 3. Hourly electricity generation of the natural gas combined-cycle plants Besos 3e4 for the period of study (3e5 October, 2011), with increases due to overnight electric
generation associated with EV charging.

Relative weight of the exhaust road transport emissions to the 3.1.3. High þ demand scenario
total emissions. Comparison of the High and High þ demand scenarios shows

Vehicular fleet composition. that the increased electrical generation will not entail significant
increases in any of the pollutants analysed (<1%) (Table 6 and
NOx traffic reductions are similar in both cities: 27 and 25% in Fig. 4g). The higher increase is observed with respect NOx emissions
Barcelona and Madrid, respectively. The differences are related to (increase of 0.20 Mg day1). For the rest of the pollutants lower
the vehicular fleet composition of each city: LDVs are more com- increases are observed (0.02 Mg day1 for SOx and NMVOC,
mon in Barcelona, while Madrid has a higher percentage of HDVs (a 0.01 Mg day1 for CO, and 0.002 Mg day1 for PM10 and PM2.5).
further description of how fleet electrification reduces road trans- Thus, comparing Base Case and High þ demand scenarios, fleet
port emissions by vehicle category is shown in the Supplementary electrification implies a net reduction of the total emissions.
Material). However, the total NOx reduction is lower in Barcelona
(11%) than in Madrid (17%), due to the higher weights of other
3.2. Air quality
sources (Table 6, and Fig. 4g and h).
The reductions in PM10 traffic emissions are comparable for
3.2.1. Base case scenario
Barcelona (5%) and Madrid (3%). These percentages of reductions
Model results show that the NO2 hourly limit value (200 mg m3)
are lower than for other pollutants because fleet electrification does
was exceeded in downtown Barcelona and Madrid (Fig. 5a and b).
not reduce non-exhaust emissions. The differences between Bar-
The maximum 24-h level of NO2 also exceeded the annual limit
celona and Madrid are due to the fleet composition; the higher
value (40 mg m3) in both urban areas.
percentage of HDVs in Madrid diminishes the impact in PM10
Fig. 5c and d show the spatial distribution of the PM10 maximum
emission reductions. Because road transport is the main emission
hourly levels in Barcelona and Madrid, respectively. In Barcelona,
source of PM10, the achieved reductions in transport are similar to
the maximum hourly levels were observed in downtown Barce-
the total emissions reductions: 4 and 3%, respectively. Regarding
lona, in the industrial areas and in the accessing roads to Barcelona.
PM2.5, somewhat higher traffic emission reductions are observed (7
In these areas, the 24-h average exceeded the target level
and 5% for Barcelona and Madrid, respectively) because exhaust
(50 mg m3). In Madrid, the 24-h target reached the 45 mg m3, close
road transport emits the fine fraction of PM, which implies higher
to the target level. In both areas (Barcelona and Madrid), these 24-h
total PM2.5 emissions reductions (5% in both cities).
levels exceed the annual limit target (40 mg m3). Concerning finer
CO traffic emission reductions are estimated as 41 and 38% for
particles, the 24-h average of PM2.5 (particulate matter with a
Barcelona and Madrid, respectively. Most of the reduction of CO
diameter up to 2.5 mm) reached 40 mg m3 in both cities, which is
emissions in Barcelona is due to the introduction of electric mo-
higher than the annual target value threshold is 25 mg m3.
torcycles. Similar to CO, NMVOC reductions of road transport in
In both Barcelona and Madrid, O3 levels are lower downtown
Barcelona are higher than in Madrid: 23% and 12%, respectively, due
(maximum hourly concentration <85 mg m3) than in the down-
to the introduction of electric mopeds. Concerning SOx, traffic
wind areas (>85 mg m3). This behaviour is due to the higher
emission reductions are high: 26 and 27% for Barcelona and Madrid,
concentration of fresh NO that acts as an O3 sink, as well as to the
respectively. However, its impact on the total emission reduction is
depletion of radicals via HNO3 formation by NO2 consumption
very low (1 and 6%, respectively) because road transport is not the
(Atkinson, 2000). In the areas of study, O3 levels did not exceed
main emission source of SOx.
either the hourly threshold of 180 mg m3 or the 8-h maximum
target of 120 mg m3. Regarding SO2, 24-h concentrations are far
from both the 24-h limit value (125 mg m3) and the hourly limit
58 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63

Table 6
NOx, PM10, PM2.5, CO, SOx and NMVOC estimated emissions by sector for the EB scenario for the cities of Barcelona and Madrid, and the total emissions for the other scenarios
and the corresponding increase compared to the Base case scenario.

Mg day1 Barcelona city Madrid city

NOx PM10 PM2.5 CO SOx NMVOC NOx PM10 PM2.5 CO SOx NMVOC

Combustion in energy industries (SNAP01) 4.13 0.17 0.17 1.80 0.22 0.48 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Non-industrial combustion (SNAP02) 3.20 0.07 0.06 1.71 0.23 0.52 4.66 0.20 0.17 2.64 0.88 0.80
Combustion & Process in Industries (SNAP03/04) 1.76 0.03 0.03 0.95 0.09 0.45 0.91 0.09 0.06 8.24 0.11 0.18
Distribution of fossil fuels (SNAP05) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00
Solvents (SNAP06) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.16 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15.87
Road transport (SNAP07) 12.57 2.44 1.91 28.07 0.19 10.41 28.43 5.32 4.15 25.60 0.41 11.36
Other mobile sources (SNAP08) 9.06 0.34 0.32 0.97 3.75 0.29 7.26 0.29 0.28 8.32 1.57 3.85
Waste treatment (SNAP09) 0.69 0.01 0.01 0.17 0.04 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Agriculture (SNAP10) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01
Biogenic emissions (SNAP11) 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.12 0.00 0.70 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.27 0.00 1.67
Total Base Case scenario 31.42 3.06 2.50 33.79 4.52 26.05 41.27 5.89 4.66 45.08 1.93 32.17
Total Low scenario 30.30 3.02 2.46 29.95 4.50 25.25 38.90 5.83 4.59 41.94 1.90 31.73
Total Medium scenario 29.18 2.98 2.41 26.10 4.49 24.46 36.52 5.77 4.52 38.66 1.86 31.29
Total High scenario 28.06 2.95 2.37 22.26 4.47 23.66 34.13 5.71 4.45 35.38 1.82 30.84
Total High þdemand scenario 28.26 2.95 2.37 22.26 4.49 23.68 e e e e e e
D Low e EB 4% 1% 2% 11% 0% 3% 6% 1% 2% 7% 2% 1%
D Medium e EB 7% 3% 3% 23% 1% 6% 12% 2% 3% 14% 4% 3%
D High e EB 11% 4% 5% 34% 1% 9% 17% 3% 5% 22% 6% 4%
D High þ demand e EB 10% 4% 5% 34% 1% 9% e e e e e e

value (350 mg m3) in both cities. The higher hourly levels are
located in Barcelona, around the port (<65 mg m3) due to the port
emissions. Concerning CO, the maximum 8-h levels in Madrid and
Barcelona were <3 mg m3, far from the 8-h limit value of
10 mg m3. Figures for O3, SO2 and CO are not shown.
3.2.2. Fleet electrification scenarios: low, medium and high
scenarios
Fig. 5eeh shows the differences in the maximum hourly levels
for NO2 and PM10 between the Base Case and High (~40% fleet
electrification) scenarios. Higher pollutant concentration abate-
ments were observed in downtown Barcelona and Madrid, where
fleet electrification is considered, and to a lesser extent in the
corresponding downwind areas. The higher NO2 reductions were
<30 mg m3 in downtown Barcelona and <35 mg m3 in downtown
Madrid. PM10 reductions are smaller than NO2 reductions:
<8 mg m3 in downtown Barcelona and <6 mg m3 in downtown
Madrid.
In contrast, the O3 hourly maximum concentrations increase
with fleet electrification: <4 mg m3. This behaviour is character-
istic of VOC-sensitive areas, usually in conditions with low VOC to
NOx ratios (Sillman and He, 2002). It should be noted that these O3
increases occur where the concentrations in the Base Case scenario
are lower (inner area of both cities). Regarding SO2, hourly
maximum reductions are not significant; <2 mg m3 in both
downtown areas. Concerning CO, hourly maximum reductions are
higher in Barcelona (0.5 mg m3) than in Madrid (<0.3 mg m3).
Figures for O3, SO2 and CO are not shown.
Furthermore, the hourly air quality impacts of fleet electrifica-
tion has been analysed for the locations with air quality station in
Barcelona (7) and Madrid (19). Fig. 6 shows the hourly concentra-
tions for NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 for the Base case, Low, Medium and
High scenarios. Two urban-traffic stations for each city were
selected: Eixample (41.386N; 2.155E) and Poblenou (41.405N;
2.205E) in Barcelona, and Castellana (40.439N; 3.690W) and
Escuelas Aguirre (40.421N; 3.682W) in Madrid. Measured air
quality levels are also shown to be compared with the Base case
scenario results, to show model performance. Further model eval-
uation is shown in the Supplementary Material.
In both Madrid and Barcelona, higher NO2 reductions are
observed for the higher air quality levels. For the Eixample station,
the higher level observed for the Base case scenario is reduced by
26 mg m3 (from 194 to 168 mg m3), which represents a 13%
reduction. In Barcelona, the reductions of the maximum levels are
between 8 and 16%. The reductions of the 24-h values are lower:
between 7 and 13%. In Madrid, higher reductions are observed for
the 24-h average; 11e15% and similar for the hourly maximums:
8e16%. In Madrid, higher air quality improvements regarding the
NO2 24-h average are obtained because the contribution of road
transport to the total emission is higher than in Barcelona. In Bar-
celona, the plume from the port and from energy industries plays
an important role in the air quality levels depending on local wind
patterns.
Smaller reductions were observed for PM10 values. In Barcelona,
the higher hourly values were reduced by 3e5%; in Madrid, these
reductions were 2e4%. Regarding the fine fraction of PM, PM2.5
levels were reduced more than PM10 (4e7% and 3e5% for the
higher values in Barcelona and Madrid, respectively).
3.2.3. High þ demand scenario
Fig. 7 shows the air quality impacts of EV charging demand
based on overnight electricity generation from a gas combined-
cycle plant in Barcelona (909 MWh day1). At night, land breeze
directs the combined-cycle plume seaward. These results show
slight NO2 increases in the downwind areas <3 mg m3 (Fig. 7a). For
the other pollutants, PM10, PM2.5, O3, SO2 and CO, the increases are
not significant (<1 mg m3). Thus, significant air quality benefits are
observed with fleet electrification, even considering the electric
generation emissions associated with EV charging. This is based on
a reduction in the total emissions and an increase of the dispersive
features of these emissions.
4. Conclusions
This work analyses the potential emission and air quality im-
pacts of fleet electrification in Barcelona and Madrid. The conclu-
sions shown in this study are derived from the study of an air
pollution episode in 2011 (worst-case). Although it cannot be
considered a large period, it is an episode with significant air
pollution. The study was performed by applying the WRF-ARW/
HERMESv2/CMAQ model system at high spatial (1  1 km2) and
temporal (1 h) resolution. This level of detail allowed for the
 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63 59

Fig. 4. Daily average emissions for the period of study for the cities of Barcelona (left panels) and Madrid (right panels). (Upper panels) 4a and 4c; NOx emissions per sector, 4b and
4d; total emissions per scenario. (Lower panels) Percentage of VKT by vehicle category (4e and 4g) and the corresponding road transport emissions (4f and 4h).
 60
A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63
Fig. 5. Air quality levels in Barcelona and Madrid for the period of study (3e5 October, 2011). Upper panels: Barcelona; Lower panels: Madrid. From left to right: maximum hourly levels of NO2 (5a and 5b), maximum hourly levels of
PM10 (5c and 5d), NO2 maximum hourly differences between Base Case and High scenario (5e and 5f) and PM10 maximum hourly differences (5g and 5h). Roads (grey lines) and Barcelona and Madrid area boundaries (black lines) are
also included.
 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63
Fig. 6. Hourly air quality levels in Barcelona and Madrid for the period of study (3e5 October, 2011) for the Base Case (red dotted line), Low (yellow dotted line), Medium (green dotted line), High (blue dotted line) scenarios, observations
(black dots), and limit values and thresholds (red lines). From left to right: NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 and from top to bottom: Poblenou (Barcelona), Eixample (Barcelona), Castellana (Madrid) and Escuelas Aguirre (Madrid) stations. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

61
62 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63
Fig. 7. Air quality differences between High þ demand and High scenarios of NO2 (7a) and PM10 (7b) in Barcelona. Roads (grey lines), natural gas combined-cycle location (red dot)
and Barcelona and Madrid boundaries (black lines) are also included. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
analysis of urban air quality. Three fleet electrification scenarios
(~13, 26 and 40%), considering the introduction of EBVs, PHEVs and
HEVs, have been defined for contrast with a Base case scenario in
which no fleet electrification configuration is applied. Furthermore,
and only for the case of Barcelona, an additional scenario has been
defined, considering overnight electric generation emissions asso-
ciated with electrical vehicles charging from a natural gas
combined-cycle plant.
In terms of emissions, these results show that fleet electrifica-
tion offers a potential for NOx and CO abatement. Regarding the
more ambitious scenario (~40%), reductions of 11% and 17% of the
total NOx emissions are observed in the cities of Barcelona and
Madrid, respectively. These emission reductions involve air quality
improvements in NO2 of 8e16% for the maximum hourly values:
reductions up to 30 and 35 mg m3 in Barcelona and Madrid,
respectively. Moreover, results obtained considering overnight
electric generation emissions do not show significant increases for
any pollutant in the city. Only slight NO2 increases in the downwind
areas <3 mg m3 are observed.
In contrast, fleet electrification has a limited impact on PM10
reductions in terms of both emissions (3e4%) and air quality
(2e5%). This is due to the high contribution of non-exhaust emis-
sions (resuspension and brake, tyre and road abrasion), which
cannot be reduced by fleet electrification. Regarding PM2.5, some-
what higher emissions reductions are observed because exhaust
road transport emits the fine fraction of PM, which implied slightly
higher air quality improvements (3e7%).
Moreover, O3 hourly maximum concentrations increase (<4% for
the maximum hourly and 8-h levels) in both downtown areas, due
to the reduction of NO, which acts as an O3 sink.
In general, fleet electrification presents potential air quality
benefits. However, certain factors must be considered. Although
fleet electrification leads to significant improvements, the re-
ductions achieved are insufficient to ensure proper air quality
levels. This suggests that electrification cannot be considered the
sole solution, especially regarding particulate matter. Additionally,
the percentage of fleet electrification required (26e40%) to acquire
a significant level of improvement suggests that all the stake-
holders must work together in order to assess such paradigm shift.
This also suggests that fleet electrification will have a limited
impact on air quality for at least the next decade. Moreover, fleet
electrification and other management measures should involve all
vehicle categories (two-wheelers, heavy-duty vehicles, buses and
light-duty vehicles) not only passenger cars. The contribution to the
total road transport emissions of heavy-duty vehicles and buses is
significant, for example, it represents the 49% of the total NOx
transport emissions in Madrid. Thus, road complementary trans-
port management strategies must be defined so that their emis-
sions can be further reduced. Finally, although road transport is the
main emission source in urban areas, further emission reductions
should be considered for the other sources. For example, in the case
of Barcelona, the weights of the port and the energy industry play
important roles in the air quality levels.
In conclusion, this work has proved that fleet electrification
would improve urban air quality, even when assuming that the EV
demand is based on a combined-cycle plant located at the pe-
riphery of the city. However, the air quality impacts of electricity
generation to power EV are not limited to urban areas. If, for
instance, coal-fired power plants allocated in isolated areas are
used to generate electricity to power EV, SO2 emissions will in-
crease in that location, then more particulate sulphate would be
formed and transported, with the possibility of affecting urban
areas. In this sense, secondary pollutants dynamics and other im-
plications of fleet electrification will be assessed in future works.
Finally, we conclude that the WRF-ARW/HERMESv2/CMAQ
modelling system is a suitable tool for the management and
assessment of urban air quality. The air quality results obtained for
the Base case scenario have been extensively evaluated with
observational data. Furthermore, air quality improvements for
primary pollutants are consistent with defined emission
reductions.
Acknowledgement
The Authors gratefully acknowledge K. Serradell for the mete-
orological input data, F. Martinez for the implementation of HER-
MESv2.0 and J. Caus from SEAT for his comments and guidance
regarding electrified vehicles. Authors also want to thank the
 A. Soret et al. / Atmospheric Environment 99 (2014) 51e63
anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve this
paper substantially. This work has been written with the support of
the grant SEV-2011-00067 of Severo Ochoa Program, awarded by
the Spanish Government. Simulations were carried out on the
MareNostrum supercomputer of the Barcelona Supercomputing
CentereCentro Nacional de Supercomputacion.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.048.
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