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Evidence map

Grid intensity: what the evidence base looks like

13 publications, 0 of them trials and 0 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 4 min read 13 citations

High-voltage transmission line on lattice pylons crossing farmland
Kreuzschnabel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What the evidence on grid intensity is made of Of 13 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 13 other. 13other (13)
13 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

A reasonable volume of literature, but weighted towards reviews and observational work rather than trials. That is enough to describe a phenomenon and rarely enough to establish that an intervention works.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the grid intensity literature was published Publication years for the 13 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2023 onwards8 papersBefore 20152 papers2020-20222 papers2015-20191 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2026, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

View along a motorway from an overbridge towards an exit slip road
Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electricity Sector Using Smart Electric Grid Applications — Abdallah L, El-Shennawy T, 2013, journal article
  2. Carbon-Aware Rolling-Horizon Energy Management of Electric Vehicles via Virtual Power Plants Under Carbon–Grid Conflict — Khan B, Ullah Z, 2026, journal article
  3. Decarbonizing Transportation: Cross-Country Evidence on Electric Vehicle Sales and Carbon Dioxide Emissions — Yengil Bülbül B, Baydar M, 2025, journal article
  4. Analysis of the Correlation Between Electric Bus Charging Strategies and Carbon Emissions from Electricity Production — Kocsis Szürke S, Pál R, Saly G, 2025, journal article
  5. Renewable Electricity Transition, Energy Intensity, and Carbon Performance: A Cross-Country Business-Economics Analysis — Ozturk I, 2025, journal article
  6. Decarbonizing China's grid: provincial grid carbon footprint factors and export-embedded electricity emissions from 2020 to 2060 — Wu Y, Zhang Z, Zhu S et al., 2025, journal article
  7. Benefit Evaluation of Carbon Reduction and Loss Reduction under a Coordinated Transportation–Electricity Network — An H, Zhou Q, Jia Y et al., 2024, journal article
  8. Coordinating the electric vehicle transition and electricity grid decarbonization in the U.S. is not essential to achieving substantial long-term carbon dioxide emissions reductions — Leard B, Greene D, 2023, journal article
  9. The greenhouse gas emissions reduction co-benefit of end-of-life electric vehicle battery treatment strategies — Dou H, Hao H, 2023, journal article
  10. Dispatch model for analysing the impacts of electric vehicles charging patterns on power system scheduling, grid emissions intensity, and emissions abatement costs — Oliyide R, Cipcigan L, 2022, journal article
How much research is there on grid intensity?
13 publications are indexed here, of which 0 are trials and 0 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2026. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electricity Sector Using Smart Electric Grid Applications Abdallah L, El-Shennawy T · Journal of Engineering · 2013 · Journal article DOI
  2. Carbon-Aware Rolling-Horizon Energy Management of Electric Vehicles via Virtual Power Plants Under Carbon–Grid Conflict Khan B, Ullah Z · World Electric Vehicle Journal · 2026 · Journal article DOI
  3. Decarbonizing China's grid: provincial grid carbon footprint factors and export-embedded electricity emissions from 2020 to 2060 Wu Y, Zhang Z, Zhu S, et al. · Carbon Footprints · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  4. Renewable Electricity Transition, Energy Intensity, and Carbon Performance: A Cross-Country Business-Economics Analysis Ozturk I · Energy Environment and Economic Studies · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  5. Analysis of the Correlation Between Electric Bus Charging Strategies and Carbon Emissions from Electricity Production Kocsis Szürke S, Pál R, Saly G · World Electric Vehicle Journal · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  6. Decarbonizing Transportation: Cross-Country Evidence on Electric Vehicle Sales and Carbon Dioxide Emissions Yengil Bülbül B, Baydar M · World Electric Vehicle Journal · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  7. Benefit Evaluation of Carbon Reduction and Loss Reduction under a Coordinated Transportation–Electricity Network An H, Zhou Q, Jia Y, et al. · World Electric Vehicle Journal · 2024 · Journal article DOI
  8. Coordinating the electric vehicle transition and electricity grid decarbonization in the U.S. is not essential to achieving substantial long-term carbon dioxide emissions reductions Leard B, Greene D · Environmental Research Letters · 2023 · Journal article DOI
  9. The greenhouse gas emissions reduction co-benefit of end-of-life electric vehicle battery treatment strategies Dou H, Hao H · Carbon Footprints · 2023 · Journal article DOI
  10. Dispatch model for analysing the impacts of electric vehicles charging patterns on power system scheduling, grid emissions intensity, and emissions abatement costs Oliyide R, Cipcigan L · International Multidisciplinary Research Journal · 2022 · Journal article DOI
  11. Real Driving Range in Electric Vehicles: Influence on Fuel Consumption and Carbon Emissions Armenta-Déu C, Cattin E · World Electric Vehicle Journal · 2021 · Journal article DOI
  12. Electric Vehicle‐Grid Integration Spurs Faster Development Roper P · Natural Gas & Electricity · 2019 · Journal article DOI
  13. Integrating Electric Vehicles into the German Electricity Grid – an Interdisciplinary Analysis Jochem P, Kaschub T, Paetz A, et al. · World Electric Vehicle Journal · 2012 · Journal article DOI