Vehicle Cycle Environmental Impacts Assessment of a China Passenger Car

Abstract

In this paper, the vehicle cycle environment impacts of a mid-size passenger car in China is performed, with a special focus on the primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The vehicle cycle analysis results show that the energy consumption and GHG emissions of a passenger car in China are about 91.1 GJ and 11.5 ton per vehicle, respectively. And coal as the main process fuel in China is the key contributor to the high GHG emissions. The material production process is very energy-intensive, and vehicle assembly process is very emission-intensive. The energy consumption and GHG emissions of the remaining stages are small compared to the overall vehicle cycle impacts. There are three means to reduce vehicle cycle environmental impacts: automotive light weighting, adopt low energy-intensive and low emission-intensive materials in vehicle, and substitute environment friendly energy for coal as the main process fuel in China.

Impact of environmental concerns on the capacity-pricing problem in the car rental business

“…Commonly, a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is applied in related matters. It is possible to apply the LCA methodology to the mobility sector and for this case, in particular, to study the vehicle cycle [20,21].…”

“…This approach is taken into account in [21] where average consumption and emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) are estimated as 91.1 GJ and 11.5 ton per vehicle. These values are calculated regarding a mid-size passenger conventional vehicle.…”

“…The production and disposal impacts are then calculated from data retrieved from [21]. Here, the material production is obtained considering the different car components (Ferrous, Aluminum,…”

“…1: GHGs global warming potential[21] .2 contains the emissions associated with fuel combustion, over 100 km, considering a petrol car with a consumption of 5.87 kg l/100km. Analysing the table, it is possible to notice that emissions related to carbon dioxide represent the largest percentage of emissions while all others are almost negligible.…”

Assessment of Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Emissions for Conventional and Advanced Powertrain Vehicles

“…2, contains the vehicle cycle and the fuel cycle. The vehicle cycle consist of raw material recovery, transport, material production, vehicle assembly, use and maintenance, and end-of-life disposal [6]. The fuel cycle comprises primary energy extraction, transport, fuel production and fuel usage during vehicle operation.…”