Electric car life cycle assessment based on real-world mileage and the electric conversion scenario

Helmers, Eckard; Dietz, Johannes; Hartard, Susanne

doi:10.1007/s11367-015-0934-3

Cited by 59 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The quantification of other impact categories like e.g. the mineral resource depletion (Helmers et al 2015) can lead to adverse results. An electric car contains more high-quality metals like copper (Cu) compared to an ICEV; however, the Cu content of BEVand ICE is within the same order of magnitude (Angerer et al 2009).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is also true for other precious metals. Concerning lithium, it will be an essential battery component until 2030 but not necessarily beyond (Helmers 2015). In addition, metal production is responsible for less than roughly 15 % of the carbon footprint within the whole life cycle of an electric SMART (Helmers and Marx 2012) including production expenses even under the assumption of energy production by wind mills.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new hybrid method for reducing the gap between WTW and LCA in the carbon footprint assessment of electric vehicles

Moro

Helmers

2015

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose The well-to-wheel (WTW) methodology is widely used for policy support in road transport. It can be seen as a simplified life cycle assessment (LCA) that focuses on the energy consumption and CO 2 emissions only for the fuel being consumed, ignoring other stages of a vehicle's life cycle. WTW results are therefore different from LCA results. In order to close this gap, the authors propose a hybrid WTW+ LCA methodology useful to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) profiles of road vehicles. Methods The proposed method (hybrid WTW+LCA) keeps the main hypotheses of the WTW methodology, but integrates them with LCA data restricted to the global warming potential (GWP) occurring during the manufacturing of the battery pack. WTW data are used for the GHG intensity of the EU electric mix, after a consistency check with the main life cycle impact (LCI) sources available in literature. Results and discussion A numerical example is provided, comparing GHG emissions due to the use of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) with emissions from an internal combustion engine vehicle. This comparison is done both according to the WTW approach (namely the JEC WTW version 4) and the proposed hybrid WTW+LCA method. The GHG savings due to the use of BEVs calculated with the WTW-4 range between 44 and 56 %, while according to the hybrid method the savings are lower (31-46 %). This difference is due to the GWP which arises as a result of the manufacturing of the battery pack for the electric vehicles. Conclusions The WTW methodology used in policy support to quantify energy content and GHG emissions of fuels and powertrains can produce results closer to the LCA methodology by adopting a hybrid WTW+LCA approach. While evaluating GHG savings due to the use of BEVs, it is important that this method considers the GWP due to the manufacturing of the battery pack.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new hybrid method for reducing the gap between WTW and LCA in the carbon footprint assessment of electric vehicles

Moro

Helmers

2015

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…The production phase has been identified in the literature to account for about half of the lifecycle GWP impact of EVs. Furthermore, all reviewed studies estimated that around 40-50% of the total GHG produced during this stage are caused by the production of the battery system [5, [42][43][44][45][46]. In other impact categories such as human toxicity, ecotoxicity, eutrophication and metal depletion the battery system represents the largest contribution [5,33].…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) and Its Application For Tractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Effect of Increased Energy Density on the Environmental Impacts of Traction Batteries: A Comparison of Energy Optimized Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Sulfur Batteries for Mobility Applications

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The quest towards increasing the energy density of traction battery technologies has led to the emergence and diversification of battery materials. The lithium sulfur battery (LSB) is in this regard a promising material for batteries due to its specific energy. However, due to its low volumetric energy density, the LSB faces challenges in mobility applications such as electric vehicles but also other transportation modes. To understand the potential environmental implication of LSB batteries, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed. For this study, electrodes for both an NMC111 with an anode graphite and a LSB battery cell with a lithium metal foil as anode were manufactured. Data from disassembly experiments performed on a real battery system for a mid-size passenger vehicle were used to build the required life cycle inventory. The energy consumption during the use phase was calculated using a simulative approach. A set of thirteen impact categories was evaluated and characterized with the ReCiPe methodology. The results of the LCA in this study allow identification of the main sources of environmental problems as well as possible strategies to improve the environmental impact of LSB batteries. In this regard, the high requirements of N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) for the processing of the sulfur cathode and the thickness of the lithium foil were identified as the most important drivers. We make recommendations for necessary further research in order to broaden the understanding concerning the potential environmental implication of the implementation of LSB batteries for mobility applications.

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“…& Assessing the use phase of EVs (Moro and Helmers 2016;Helmers et al 2016), & Resource driven assessments (Gemechu et al 2016;Pehlken et al 2016;Hernandez et al 2016), & The potential of EVs for energy storage systems in the smart grid as a cascading use option (Gemechu et al 2016;Richa et al 2016;Casals et al 2016), and & The assessment of fuel cell electric vehicles (Miotti et al 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As we excluded the effect of the usage of renewable energies, we could also identify other aspects to the use phase of EVs. For example, Helmers et al (2016) performed an LCA on the electric car based on real-world mileage and the electric conversion scenario. Their assessment aims at quantifying the LCA based on a real-world vehicle composition and energy consumption data measured before and after the electric conversion of a mini class car.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preface

Pehlken

Young

Chen

2016

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Electric car life cycle assessment based on real-world mileage and the electric conversion scenario

Cited by 59 publications

References 28 publications

A new hybrid method for reducing the gap between WTW and LCA in the carbon footprint assessment of electric vehicles

A new hybrid method for reducing the gap between WTW and LCA in the carbon footprint assessment of electric vehicles

Exploring the Effect of Increased Energy Density on the Environmental Impacts of Traction Batteries: A Comparison of Energy Optimized Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Sulfur Batteries for Mobility Applications

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