Californians love their cars, and motor vehicles have been a part of California for more than 100 years, but motor vehicles are a major contributor to poor air quality, global warming emissions and petroleum dependence. Even though vehicles continue to become cleaner and more efficient, California’s 25 million cars use about 50 million gallons of gasoline and diesel every day. The emissions from vehicles and fuel production form half of the state’s criteria pollutants and create more than 40% of the greenhouse gases. By controlling emissions during fuel production and at the tailpipe, we can significantly reduce the impact of cars and trucks on our environment.

Automakers and energy companies are working hard to meet California’s environmental goals while building vehicles that meet consumer expectations and use fuel that’s safe, affordable and abundant.

Well-to-wheels

Producing and using fuel—any fuel—consumes energy and creates emissions. With modeling software, researchers from government and industry calculate the impact of the fuel during its production and distribution (well to tank), and then as the vehicle uses the fuel (tank to wheels.) The results are combined and presented as well to wheels.

Argonne Labs, the European Council for Automotive Research, the Mizuho Information and Research Institute in Japan and the California Energy Commission each customized the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) or similar models to evaluate more than 100 combinations of fuel and vehicle, and estimated their impacts on energy and the environment. The resulting data in each report shows similar curves for energy use and emissions.

Well to wheels: A guide to understanding energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions

Supporting Documents

• Argonne National Labs (ANL) May 2005 Report
• California Energy Commission (CEC) Report: Appendices
• California Energy Commission (CEC) Report: Full Fuel Cycle Assessment Tank to Wheels Emissions and Energy Consumption
• California Energy Commission (CEC) Report: Full Fuel Cycle Assessment Well to Tank Energy Inputs, Emissions, and Water Impacts
• California Energy Commission (CEC) Report: Full Fuel Cycle Assessment: Well-to-wheels Energy Inputs, Emissions, and Water Impact
• Well-to-Wheel Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Automotive Fuels in the Japanese Context
• Well-to-wheels Analysis of Future Automotive Fuels and Powertrains in the European Context
• DOE's Well-to-wheels 2010: Well-to-Wheels Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Petroleum Use for Mid-Size Light-Duty Vehicles