Carbon Footprint and Water Footprint of Electric Vehicles and Batteries Charging in View of Various Sources of Power Supply in the Czech Republic

Abstract

In the light of recent developments regarding electric vehicle market share, we assess the carbon footprint and water footprint of electric vehicles and provide a comparative analysis of energy use from the grid to charge electric vehicle batteries in the Czech Republic. The analysis builds on the electricity generation forecast for the Czech Republic for 2015–2050. The impact of different sources of electricity supply on carbon and water footprints were analyzed based on electricity generation by source for the period. Within the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the carbon footprint was calculated using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method, while the water footprint was determined by the Water Scarcity method. The computational LCA model was provided by the SimaPro v. 8.5 package with the Ecoinvent v. 3 database. The functional unit of study was running an electric vehicle over 100 km. The system boundary covered an electric vehicle life cycle from cradle to grave. For the analysis, we chose a vehicle powered by a lithium-ion battery with assumed consumption 19.9 kWh/100 km. The results show that electricity generated to charge electric vehicle batteries is the main determinant of carbon and water footprints related to electric vehicles in the Czech Republic. Another important factor is passenger car production. Nuclear power is the main determinant of the water footprint for the current and future electric vehicle charging, while, currently, lignite and hard coal are the main determinants of carbon footprint.

Extended life cycle assessment reveals the spatially-explicit water scarcity footprint of a lithium-ion battery storage

“…Other spatially explicit studies on water footprints and other footprints also attach great importance to this difference 36 . However, the regionalisation of the upstream supply chain has not been the focus of most analyses of the WF of energy systems for different reasons [37][38][39][40] . Different kinds of water use in the course of human-induced processes can be illuminated with the help of the deduced sub-indicators (evapotranspiration losses, product incorporated water, water transfers, virtual dilution volumes), while uniting them under a common risk, which is the reduction of available water remaining if it results in an exceedance of the SOS.…”

A Forecasting Model on Carrying Capacity for Government's Controlling Measure Under Environmental Law in Thailand: Adapting Non-Recursive Autoregression Based on the Var-X Model

“…Later, they found that such model can be integrated with other environmental models in order to evaluate the impact of land use on ecosystem services. Jursova et al (2019) examined the carbon footprint and water footprint of electric vehicles in the Czech Republic by forecasting the electricity generation for the country from 2015 to 2050. Such investigation was done based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method and the Water Scarcity method.…”

Low-carbon Transport in Czech-Polish Cross Border Area: Attitude of Czech and Polish Public to Electromobility

“…In comparison with other EU countries, this is the lowest market share ( Table 1). The leader is Sweden with 5.2%, followed by the Netherlands (2.7%), Belgium (2.6%), and Finland (2.6%) (Jursova et al, 2019). Electric vehicles are the future of road transport.…”

“…2) reveals that the biggest emitter is the Czech Republic with emission of CO2 above 12 tonne per capita. Germany is the second one with emission lower than 12 tonne per capita (Jursova et al, 2019). Reducing greenhouse gases emissions is one of the priorities of the European Commission (Jursova et al, 2014).…”

“…There are two possibilities to fullfil it: an increase in efficiency of combustion engine or application of alternative fuels for vehicles. The White Paper includes proposals to reduce Europe's dependence on imported oil and to cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050 (Jursova et al, 2019) It is a reason for development of electric vehicles market. Europe is slowly coming to terms with the need to switch to electric or hydrogen mobility.…”