scholarly journals Prospective Environmental Impacts of Passenger Cars under Different Energy and Steel Production Scenarios

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6236
Author(s):  
Michael Samsu Koroma ◽  
Nils Brown ◽  
Giuseppe Cardellini ◽  
Maarten Messagie
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Reduction Potential ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Direct Reduction ◽  
Steel Production ◽  
Passenger Cars ◽  
Co2 Intensity

The potential environmental impacts of producing and using future electric vehicles (EVs) are important given their expected role in mitigating global climate change and local air pollutants. Recently, studies have begun assessing the effect of potential future changes in EVs supply chains on overall environmental performance. This study contributes by integrating expected changes in future energy, iron, and steel production in the life cycle assessment (LCA) of EVs. In this light, the study examines the impacts of changes in these parameters on producing and charging future EVs. Future battery electric vehicles (BEV) could have a 36–53% lower global warming potential (GWP) compared to current BEV. The change in source of electricity generation accounts for 89% of GWP reductions over the BEV’s life cycle. Thus, it presents the highest GWP reduction potential of 35–48%. The use of hydrogen for direct reduction of iron in steelmaking (HDR-I) is expected to reduce vehicle production GWP by 17% compared to current technology. By accounting for 9% of the life cycle GWP reductions, HDR-I has the second-highest reduction potential (1.3–4.8%). The results also show that the potential for energy efficiency improvement measures for GWP reduction in vehicle and battery manufacture would be more beneficial when applied now than in the distant future (2050), when the CO2 intensity of the EU electricity is expected to be lower. Interestingly, under the same conditions, the high share of renewable energy in vehicle supply chains contributed to a decrease in all air pollution-related impact categories, but an increase in toxicity-related categories, as well as land use and water consumption.

A Framework to Analyze the Reduction Potential of Life Cycle Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Passenger Cars

2012 ◽  
pp. 55-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Herrmann ◽  
Karsten Kieckhäfer ◽  
Mark Mennenga ◽  
Steven Skerlos ◽  
Thomas Stefan Spengler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Reduction Potential ◽  
Passenger Cars

scholarly journals Are Short Food Supply Chains More Environmentally Sustainable than Long Chains? A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Eco-Efficiency of Food Chains in Selected EU Countries

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 4853
Author(s):  
Edward Majewski ◽  
Anna Komerska ◽  
Jerzy Kwiatkowski ◽  
Agata Malak-Rawlikowska ◽  
Adam Wąs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Short Food Supply Chains ◽  
Efficiency Indicators

Improving the eco-efficiency of food systems is one of the major global challenges faced by the modern world. Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are commonly regarded to be less harmful to the environment, among various reasons, due to their organizational distribution and thus the shortened physical distance between primary producers and final consumers. In this paper, we empirically test this hypothesis, by assessing and comparing the environmental impacts of short and long food supply chains. Based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, we calculate eco-efficiency indicators for nine types of food distribution chains. The analysis is performed on a sample of 428 short and long food supply chains from six European countries. Our results indicate that, on average, long food supply chains may generate less negative environmental impacts than short chains (in terms of fossil fuel energy consumption, pollution, and GHG emissions) per kg of a given product. The values of eco-efficiency indicators display a large variability across analyzed chains, and especially across different types of SFSCs. The analysis shows that the environmental impacts of the food distribution process are not only determined by the geographical distance between producer and consumer, but depend on numerous factors, including the supply chain infrastructure.

scholarly journals Environmental Impacts of Charging Concepts for Battery Electric Vehicles: A Comparison of On-Board and Off-Board Charging Systems Based on a Life Cycle Assessment

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 6508
Author(s):  
Mona Kabus ◽  
Lars Nolting ◽  
Benedict J. Mortimer ◽  
Jan C. Koj ◽  
Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
System Level ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Dc System ◽  
Battery Electric Vehicles

We investigate the environmental impacts of on-board (based on alternating current, AC) and off-board (based on direct current, DC) charging concepts for electric vehicles using Life Cycle Assessment and considering a maximum charging power of 22 kW (AC) and 50 kW (DC). Our results show that the manufacturing of chargers provokes the highest contribution to environmental impacts of the production phase. Within the chargers, the filters could be identified as main polluters for all power levels. When comparing the results on a system level, the DC system causes less environmental impact than the AC system in all impact categories. In our diffusion scenarios for electric vehicles, annual emission reductions of up to 35 million kg CO2-eq. could be achieved when the DC system is used instead of the AC system. In addition to the environmental assessment, we examine economic effects. Here, we find annual savings of up to 8.5 million euros, when the DC system is used instead of the AC system.

scholarly journals Impact on the environment and on human health of internal combustion, hybrid and battery electric powered vehicles in a life cycle perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 07011
Author(s):  
Francesco Di Maria ◽  
Daniela Cesari ◽  
Federico Sisani
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
Particulate Emissions ◽  
Combustion Engines ◽  
Passenger Cars ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective ◽  
Italian Context

Different power trained passenger cars were compared in a life cycle perspective (LCA) considering the Italian context for the year 2019. Main findings shows that battery electric vehicles, based on the current Italian energy mix, have the lower global warming emissions about 0.1 kgCO2eq/km. Lower particulate emissions of about 5x10-4 kgPM2,5eq/km and impact on human health about 7x10-7/km DALY were detected for petrol hybrid electric vehicles. Lower photochemical emissions of about 5x10-4 kgNMVOCeq/km were found for gasoline internal combustion engines vehicles.

scholarly journals Erratum to: Environmental impacts of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles—what can we learn from life cycle assessment?

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Nordelöf ◽  
Maarten Messagie ◽  
Anne-Marie Tillman ◽  
Maria Ljunggren Söderman ◽  
Joeri Van Mierlo
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Battery Electric Vehicles

scholarly journals Criticality Assessment of the Life Cycle of Passenger Vehicles Produced in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Sun ◽  
Vanessa Bach ◽  
Matthias Finkbeiner ◽  
Jianxin Yang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Internal Combustion Engine ◽  
Electric Vehicle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
Battery Electric Vehicle ◽  
Battery Electric Vehicles ◽  
Criticality Assessment

AbstractChina is globally the largest and a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles. The aim of the paper is to determine challenges related to criticality and environmental impacts of battery electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, focusing not only on a global but also the Chinese perspective, applying the ESSENZ method, which covers a unique approach to determine criticality aspects as well as integrating life cycle assessment results. Real industry data for vehicles and batteries produced in China was collected. Further, for the criticality assessment, Chinese import patterns are analyzed. The results show that the battery electric vehicle has similar and partly increased environmental impacts compared with the internal combustion engine vehicle. For both, the vehicle cycle contributes to a large proportion in all the environmental impact categories except for global warming. Further, battery electric vehicles show a higher criticality than internal combustion engine vehicles, with tantalum, lithium, and cobalt playing essential roles. In addition, the Chinese-specific results show a lower criticality compared to the global assessment for the considered categories trade barriers and political stability, while again tantalum crude oil and cobalt have high potential supply disruptions. Concluding, battery electric vehicles still face challenges regarding their environmental as well as criticality performance from the whole supply chain both in China and worldwide. One reason is the replacement of the lithium-ion power battery. By enhancing its quality and establishing battery recycling, the impacts of battery electric vehicle would decrease.

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