Electric vehicles are progressively emerging in the light-duty passenger market as a promising alternative to oil-dependent road transport in the attempt to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions. However, it is necessary to investigate how a significant penetration of electric vehicles in the private transport fleet would affect the strategic planning of large scale energy systems. This study evaluates the integration of electric vehicles in the Italian energy scenario and their synergy with electricity generation from renewable energy sources, identifying the impact in terms of CO2 emissions, costs and curtailments on a medium-long term perspective. The national energy system has been accurately characterized using currently available data and its operation simulated with the EnergyPLAN software through an integrated analysis method. Possible energy scenarios have been defined with increasing shares of electric vehicles and intermittent renewable energy sources. Results assess the impact of electric vehicles in cutting private transport carbon emissions and the positive interaction with increasing levels of renewables under different vehicle charging strategies and the capability of electric vehicles to behave as an electricity storage system. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.