Electric Transportation

Southern California Edison’s efforts to meet our corporate fleet goals in the cleanest and most cost-effective way – partly with the nation’s largest and most successful fleet of pure battery-electric vehicles – demonstrate our commitment to minimizing quality-of-life impacts in the communities we serve and where we work.

These efforts also reflect our long tradition in environmental leadership. For example, SCE leads the nation in renewable energy purchases, with renewables currently making up nearly 16% of our energy mix. When renewable resources power electric-drive technologies, the total emissions involved reach almost zero.

We’re also working closely with government agencies, as well as public and private organizations, to provide a safe, efficient and reliable power infrastructure to support these electric-drive technologies and maximize their environmental benefits – including their critical role in efforts to improve the quality of the air we all breathe.

Environmental Data

Despite improvements in air quality, according to the California Air Resources Board (ARB), more than 90% of Californians breathe unhealthy levels of one or more air pollutants during some part of the year. The ARB also indicates that mobile sources (including motor vehicles) are the state’s leading cause of pollution, generating approximately 50% of California’s smog-forming emissions.

But there’s good news. In an analysis completed in 2005, TIAX LLC, a collaborative research and development firm, found that electric-drive technologies:

• Can achieve a 98% reduction in smog-forming emissions in California (even accounting for emissions from electric generating stations).
• Are expected to displace up to 72 tons per day of smog-forming emissions in California by 2020. That’s the equivalent of removing 1.7 million 2005 model year passenger vehicles from the state’s roads.

SCE’s Fleet Contributions

SCE’s own extensive fleet use of electric-powered vehicles clearly demonstrates the environmental benefits of this technology – as well as the role electric-drive can play in lowering vehicle maintenance costs and reducing dependence on foreign oil to help increase energy security.

We operate the nation’s largest and most successful fleet of pure battery-electric vehicles, comprised predominantly of Toyota RAV-4 EVs. This fleet, with almost 300 vehicles, travels over 100,000 electric vehicle miles monthly.

Through mid-2008, our electric vehicle fleet produced the following impressive results:

• Vehicle miles driven: More than 16 million
• Oil changes not needed: Over 3,200
• Smog checks avoided: About 1,500
• Labor and material costs saved: Almost $113,000
• Gallons of gasoline saved: About 805,000
• Fuel costs saved: Nearly $3 million*
• Quarts of oil saved: More than 16,000
• Tons of pollutants saved from emission: About 1,900 
• Tons of tailpipe carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) not produced: Approximately 8,600

* Net savings, meaning the difference between electricity costs and equivalent gasoline costs.

Goods Movement Benefits

Besides on-road vehicles, there are electric-drive technologies that can minimize environmental impacts while accommodating the movement of goods that is vital to California’s economy. These include:

• Truck stop electrification: Electric infrastructure that provides power at truck stops to eliminate the trucks’ need to idle their engines for heat, auxiliary power and other requirements.
• Marine port technologies: Dockside electric infrastructure that allows ships in port to shut down their engines and still generate electricity needed onboard, and to power other vehicles and equipment in the port area, such as electric cranes and refrigerated containers.
• Airport electric technologies: Ground support equipment like baggage tugs, pushback tractors and belt loaders, as well as pre-conditioned gate air units, which are powered from the jet way and not from a diesel auxiliary power unit.

SCE spearheads efforts to ensure standards for truck stop electrification infrastructure; identifies opportunities for and evaluates port dockside electrification; and partners with airports, airlines and industry organizations to enable the most efficient use of necessary electric infrastructure.

To see how different vehicle technologies – from pure electric vehicles to internal combustion engine vehicles – rank in petroleum use and tailpipe emissions, check out  “Comparing the Options (PDF).”

To learn more about all of SCE’s efforts to continuously improve our environmental performance, visit the Environment section.

Electricity…Sustaining Our Transportation Future.