Material footprint of electric vehicles: A multiregional life cycle assessment

Sen, Burak; Onat, Nuri Cihat; Küçükvar, Murat; Tatari, Ömer

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.309

Cited by 64 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The life cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely utilized to assess the environmental footprints across the EV's life cycle phases, including material extraction, manufacturing, usage, and end-of-life (Sen, Kucukvar, Onat, & Tatari, 2020;Sen, Onat, Kucukvar, & Tatari, 2019;Onat et al 2014Onat et al a,b, 2019. Usai et al (2021) conducted an LCA on fuel cell systems for fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEVs) technologies to understand the environmental impacts associated with the use of FCEVs in the United States.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

How eco‐efficient are electric vehicles across Europe? A regionalized life cycle assessment‐based eco‐efficiency analysis

Onat

Abdella

Küçükvar

et al. 2021

Sustainable Development

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Sustainable transportation is at the hearth of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is directly linked to many SDGs including SDG3 (good health and well-being), SDG11 (sustainable cities and societies), SDG 7 (clean energy), SDG13 (climate), and SDG 12 (sustainable production and consumption). European countries have been promoting a widespread adoption of electric vehicles to achieve SDGs through resilient, technology-driven, and human-centric mobility. However, potential environmental benefits of electric vehicles depend on various regional factors such as the fuel efficiency and source of electricity generation. At the same time, the economic benefits of mobility to the economy are an important factor for evaluating the relative performance of electric vehicles. To this end, this research paper presents the first empirical analysis of the regionalized eco-efficiency assessment of electric vehicles across Europe. We developed an integrated regionalized eco-efficiency performance score, by employing life cycle assessment and principal component analysis techniques to assess the eco-efficiency performance of electric vehicles in Europe. Considering the energy mix for electricity generation, three environmental indicators (carbon footprint, water consumption, and energy use) and one economic (contribution to national gross domestic product) indicator were used to compute the eco-efficiency scores for 28 European countries. The eco-efficiency scores for each corresponding country were calculated, compared, and clustered in as high, medium, and low eco-efficiency score countries. The clvalid package of R software's archive network is used to determine the optimal number of clusters for the EES dataset. The results of the comparative study

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Section: Life Cycle Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

How eco‐efficient are electric vehicles across Europe? A regionalized life cycle assessment‐based eco‐efficiency analysis

Onat

Abdella

Küçükvar

et al. 2021

Sustainable Development

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“…As well as cutting down carbon emissions, EV adoption could also lead to a possible reduction in impacts on human health, resource depletion, and ecological system damage across the life cycle, thus helping harmonize EV adoption with the sustainable development agenda 2030 [7]. The critical factors that have a significant effect on the climate, according to studies conducted by Sen et al [8], Aseel et al [9], Kucukvar et al [10], Onat et al [11], and Elhamoud et al [12], are energy use and the global warming potential (GWP).…”

Section: Introduction 1backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Adoption of Electric Vehicles in Qatar Can Contribute to Net Carbon Emission Reduction but Requires Strong Government Incentives

et al. 2021

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Electric mobility is at the forefront of innovation. Cutting down greenhouse gases when low-carbon electricity sources are maintained has answered the concerns of skeptics when switching to electric mobility. This paper presents a life-cycle-based comparative study between the electric and conventional gasoline vehicles with respect to their environmental performance, taking the case of Qatar. A well-to-wheel life cycle assessment is used to understand the carbon footprint associated with the use of alternative mobility when powered by non-renewable energy sources such as natural gas for electricity production. A survey was also conducted to evaluate the economic and practical feasibility of the use of electric vehicles in Qatar. The analysis showed that electric vehicles (EVs) have passed conventional gasoline vehicles with a minimum difference between them of 12,000 gCO2eq/100 km traveled. This difference can roughly accommodate two additional subcompact electric vehicles on the roads of Qatar. Even though Qatar is producing all of its electricity from natural gas, EVs are still producing much less carbon footprint into the atmosphere with the results showing that almost identical alternatives produce triple the amount of GHG emissions. The results of the survey showed that, despite promising results shown in switching to carbon-neutral mobility solutions, a lack of willingness prevails within the State of Qatar to incline towards electric mobility among users. This implies that Qatar has to spend a lot of time and resources to achieve its ambitious goal to decarbonize mobility on roads with 10% electric vehicles by 2030. This research highlights the need for more practical incentives and generous subsidies by the government of Qatar on e-mobility solutions to switch the transportation system into an eco-friendly one.

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“…Use of electric vehicles differs from use of vehicles with the combustion engine in terms of efficiency and performance. The research that has been carried out so far is connected with, e.g., assessment of environmental impacts of materials and elements in the life cycle of electric cars which is presented in [ 19 ]. Onat et al [ 20 ] present a study of the environmental impact of electric cars powered by renewable energy sources and economic assessment based on LCC (Life Cycle Cost) method for the United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Comparative Assessment of Effects on the Power System and Environment of Selected Electric Transport Means in Poland

et al. 2021

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Currently, electric vehicles are a rapidly growing alternative to those with combustion engines and can contribute to reduction of CO2 emissions in the transport sector, especially when the energy to power electric motors is predominantly derived from renewable sources. Until now, the comparison of environmental impact and influence of electric transport means on the power systems was not fully addressed in the case of Poland. The purpose of the study is to describe, analyse and assess electric vehicles (EV) operation against performance indicators in Poland, especially the influence of electric transport means (ETM) (electric cars, trams, trolley buses and buses) on power system and environment. The influence on the power system was investigated for the Polish National Powers system using the simulation of different scenarios of loads generated by EV charging. The energy demand of the National Power System and daily load variability indices were determined. Based on the data of ETM powers consumption and emissions of energy production, the emissions of harmful gases per one km and per one person were calculated, as well as the financial outlays for energy necessary to drive 1 km per 1 passenger. To assess and compare the environmental impact of the selected ETM life cycle, the life cycle assessment method was used. The results of environmental impacts were determined for selected assessment methods: CML 2 and IPCC 2013 GWP 100. The functional unit in this study is one selected ETM with a service life of 100,000 km. Comparison of trams, trolley buses, buses and electric passenger cars indicates that most beneficial are electric buses which do not need rails or overhead lines, thus investment costs are lower.

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Material footprint of electric vehicles: A multiregional life cycle assessment

Cited by 64 publications

References 54 publications

How eco‐efficient are electric vehicles across Europe? A regionalized life cycle assessment‐based eco‐efficiency analysis

How eco‐efficient are electric vehicles across Europe? A regionalized life cycle assessment‐based eco‐efficiency analysis

The Adoption of Electric Vehicles in Qatar Can Contribute to Net Carbon Emission Reduction but Requires Strong Government Incentives

The Comparative Assessment of Effects on the Power System and Environment of Selected Electric Transport Means in Poland

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