Fuelled by a rapidly rising human global population, an increasing demand for freedom to travel and the affordability made possible by modern manufacturing there has been an exponential rise in the number of automobiles -in the year 2013 there were in excess of a billion automobiles in use! Three factors that are of serious concern are the consequential energetic, environmental and economic impacts. One solution that is being seen by a number of national governments is the advent (or rather re-introduction) of electric vehicles (EVs). However, one of the key factors that will need to be explored will be the source of the required electricity for the EVs that will define the level of their sustainability. In this article an experimental evaluation of an electric vehicle has been undertaken. The Renault Zoe e-car has been used for this task with the 'car chasing' technique employed to measure the driving cycle. The speed and energy use were recorded for the vehicle that was driven along the principal arteries of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. In a separate activity vehicle driving tests were also undertaken in one 1 Corresponding author. town in Slovenia (Celje). In both places urban and suburban routes were covered for different times of the day. Results are presented to quantify the energetic, environmental and economic performance indices for the driven vehicle. A discussion is also provided on the potential for reduction of carbon emissions from the transport sector by provision of environmentally-friendly means of generating electricity.

Fuelled by energy security problems and urban air pollution challenges, several countries worldwide have set the objective to gradually eliminate petrol and diesel cars. The increasing support from government and demands for environmental friendly means of transportation are accelerating the use of battery electric vehicles. However, it is indispensable to have accurate and complete information about their behaviour in different traffic situations and road conditions. For the experimental analysis carried out in this study, three different electric vehicles from the Edinburgh College leasing program were equipped and tracked to obtain over 50 GPS and energy consumption data for short distance journeys in the Edinburgh area and long-range tests between Edinburgh and Bristol (UK). The results showed that the vehicles’ energy intensities were significantly affected by the driving cycle pattern, with a noticeable diminution due to low temperatures. It was found that the real available range of the electric vehicle in some situations could be 17% lower than the predicted mileage shown in the dashboard of the vehicle. The difference from the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) values was even higher. The study has also provided a discussion on the effect of the electricity mix on carbon emission reduction.

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In the UK, a quarter of all CO2 emissions come from transport and 90% of this comes from road vehicles. According to the UK Government (a) at the end of 2013 there were 35 million vehicles licensed for use on the roads of UK and during 2013, over 4300 new ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV -vehicles with emissions of CO 2 below 75 g/km, or fully electric) were registered for the first time, this is 25% up on 2012. This included over 3600 cars and vans eligible for UK government 'plug-in grants' this statistic is nearly 50% more than in 2012. Renault Zoe and the Nissan Leaf were the most popular electric vehicles available to the European market.

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