Light-Duty Vehicles Electrification: Carbon Dioxide Reduction Impact
Potential and Considerations of Its Effect on Electricity Generation
System 2023-01-5054
In the context of the race toward minimum road transportation carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions, the needs for tools comparing various powertrain
options are of the highest importance. Various authors have demonstrated the
necessity to take into account the full life cycle assessment (LCA), a
simplified tank-to-wheel calculation being unsatisfactory in providing guidance
regarding the optimized technological choices depending of variables
manufacturing and operating conditions.
There are several examples to be found in the literature but they have been found
to be very specific to most of their assumptions (e.g., vehicle models,
electricity carbon intensity for usage or production, etc.). This paper focuses
first on possibly to establish a more general model and relative graphic tool to
compare carbon foot print of various powertrains with incremental
electrification levels of light-duty vehicles (spark ignition engine, full
hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicle), enabling to choose
relevant parameters for the production and the usage of the vehicles.
As expected, the level of electrification is identified as a key parameter of the
overall vehicle carbon footprint. However, electrifying the fleet represents a
major challenge for the electricity generation system and grid, requesting
detailed analysis. That’s the subject of the second part of the study, which
also proposes a graphic way of analyzing the situation. Examples are being
provided for European countries with different energy strategy (i.e., France and
Germany), including a tentative to consider the possibilities offered by vehicle
to grid (V2G) to overcome intermittency nature of ReNeWable energy sources (RNW)
such as PhotoVoltaic solar (PV) and wind turbines (WIND).
