LCA study concludes Hybrid cars reduce GHG vs gasoline ICE cars -12.5%; Plug-ins: -20.8%

[Bill USA]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/06/lowcvp-20110608.html

For a current standard mid-sized gasoline ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle, the embedded carbon in production will be around 5.6tCO2e, around three quarters of which is the steel in the vehicle glider. This highlights the importance of deploying low weight, low carbon alternatives to current steels in the ultra-low carbon vehicles of the future. A similar electric vehicle will have embedded production emissions of 8.8tCO2e, 43% of which arise from the battery.



Vehicle Whole Life Carbon Emissions Analysis

                                             Estimated          % of Emissions
                                       Lifecycle emissions        in PRoduction
                                        (tons of CO2)
Standard gasoline vehicle                  24              23%   
Hybrid vehicle                                 21              31%   
Plug-in hybrid vehicle                       19              35%   
Battery-electric vehicle                     19              46%   

Based upon a 2015 vehicle in use for 150k KM using 10% ethanol blend and 500g/kWh grid electricity.

Decarbonizing both electricity supply through renewables and the production of batteries will therefore be essential for electric vehicles to deliver ultra-low carbon lifetime emissions.

The report also indicates that lifecycle carbon emissions for mid-sized gasoline and diesel vehicles doing a similar lifetime mileage are almost identical—the greater efficiency of the diesel being offset by high production emissions. It also highlights that some regulations designed to improve recyclability, safety or reduce air pollution can increase carbon emissions in production or use.


There is an emerging consensus that we need to move towards a more holistic analysis of whole life CO2 emissions in order to make more informed and better long term decisions on future technologies.


Life cycle analysis is still in its infancy, with little defined process and standards. The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership report is an important contribution to this type of analysis and highlights the need to work toward a common methodology and approach to deliver consistent and robust life cycle data on CO2 emissions.

—Ricardo Chief Technology & Innovation Officer and Chairman of the LowCVP, Prof. Neville Jackson
(more)

note: (21/24) -1 = -0.125
(19/24) -1 = -0.208

[Gregorian]

1. Good article. Thanks.

Reminds me of an advanced thermodynamics course where we talked about these things. That was in the late 80's. That is how slow we've been to respond.

I don't see too many articles that address important contexts of the analysis like this one does. I've thought for a long time that both lifecycle and production will plummet once technology reaches an acceptable minimum.