WELL-TO-WHEEL GASOLINE LIFECYCLE MODEL

Full carbon intensity calculation · Tank-to-Wheel + Well-to-Tank → Well-to-Wheel

Data: GREET 2023 / EPA / CA-GREET 4.0
Vehicle Parameters (Tank-to-Wheel)
Well-to-Tank Parameters
Emission Factors (editable)

Default values from GREET 2023 / CA-GREET 4.0 / EPA. Adjust to model different scenarios.

—
g CO₂e / mile (Well-to-Wheel)
Total Lifecycle Emissions
BREAKDOWN
Tank-to-Wheel: —
Well-to-Tank: —
—gal/yr
Annual Fuel Use
—MT CO₂e/yr
Annual GHG (WtW)
—g/mi
Tailpipe CO₂/mi
—%
Upstream Share
Lifecycle Flow
Stage Table
Benchmarks
Model Equations
Stage Category CI (gCO₂e/MJ) gCO₂e/mile Share

Sources: GREET 2023 (Argonne National Laboratory); CA-GREET 4.0 (CARB); EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle (2023). Refining CI from Elgowainy et al., ES&T 2014: weighted average 7.8 gCO₂e/MJ gasoline production + crude extraction ~5 gCO₂e/MJ.

vs. EPA Reference Values
Annual CO₂ Context
Tank-to-Wheel Model
# Fuel consumed per mile (gallon/mile)
FC_gal_mile = 1 / MPG

# Gasoline energy density (MJ/gallon, E10 blend)
# Pure gasoline = 132.1 MJ/gal, Ethanol = 84.2 MJ/gal
LHV_mix = 132.1 × (1−eth_frac) + 84.2 × eth_frac [MJ/gal]

# Tailpipe CO₂ from carbon content (IPCC/EPA method)
# Gasoline carbon fraction = 0.866 kg C/kg fuel
# Fuel density ~0.739 kg/L = 2.798 kg/gal
CO2_tailpipe = FC_gal_mile × 8887 × (1−eth_frac×0.0)
[g CO₂/mile from pure gasoline combustion]

# Cold-start penalty adds ~5-15% to urban CO/HC; minimal CO₂ effect
CO2_cold = CO2_tailpipe × (1 + cold_factor × 0.02)

# Driving cycle correction factors (relative to mixed)
cycle_adj = {mixed:1.0, city:1.18, highway:0.87, aggressive:1.28}
Well-to-Tank Model
# Upstream CI by stage (gCO₂e/MJ fuel in tank)
CI_extraction = 5.0 # crude extraction, flaring, venting
CI_transport = 0.8 # tanker + pipeline to refinery
CI_refining = 13.5 # avg US refinery (Elgowainy et al. 2014)
CI_distribution= 1.5 # terminal to station (pipeline+truck)
CI_station = 0.5 # pump electricity + evap losses

CI_WTT_total = Σ(all upstream stages) [gCO₂e/MJ]

# Convert upstream CI to g CO₂e per mile
WTT_gCO2_mile = CI_WTT_total × LHV_mix × FC_gal_mile

# Crude source adjustments (multiplicative):
factor = {us_mix:1.0, conventional:0.85, shale:1.05,
heavy:1.35, middle_east:0.92}
Well-to-Wheel Integration
WTW_total = TTW_CO2_mile + WTT_gCO2_mile [g CO₂e/mile]

# Annual emissions
Annual_GHG = WTW_total × annual_miles / 1,000,000 [MT CO₂e/yr]

Key references: (1) Silva et al. 2006 — EcoGest model framework for instantaneous TTW simulation. (2) GREET 2023, Argonne National Laboratory — upstream pathway CIs. (3) Elgowainy et al., ES&T 2014 — refinery energy efficiency for gasoline: 88.6% avg, CI 7.8 gCO₂e/MJ. (4) CA-GREET 4.0 (CARB 2024) — extraction 3.65–5.01 gCO₂e/MJ, transport 0.61–1.20 gCO₂e/MJ. (5) EPA (2023) — tailpipe CO₂: 8,887 g/gallon gasoline.