A new study by International Council on Clean Transportation has found out that battery electric vehicles have by far the lowest life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
Key points
The study compared the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of combustion engines and EV passenger vehicles.
The review analysed the 4 biggest regions and countries which together account for about 70% of new car sales worldwide.
There is no realistic pathway for combustion-engine vehicles, including hybrids of any sort to reduce GHG.
Only battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles powered by renewable electricity can reductions in emissions from transportation.
The review conducted by the International Council on Clean Transportation has analysed the European Union, the United States, China, and India, and captured the differences among those markets, which together account for about 70% of new car sales worldwide.
Only battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles powered by renewable electricity can achieve the kind of deep reductions in emissions from transportation that conform with the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global warming well below 2 °C.
The study methodology considers the lifetime average carbon intensity of fuel and electricity mixes and accounts for changes in the carbon intensity over vehicle lifetime given present energy policies. It also looked at real-world usage rather than relying on official test values to estimate fuel and electricity consumption; this is especially important in assessing emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Results show that emissions over the lifetime of average medium-size BEVs registered today are already lower than comparable gasoline cars by 66%–69% in Europe, 60%–68% in the United States, 37%–45% in China, and 19%–34% in India.
The report states, to align with the Paris Agreement targets, the registration of new combustion engine vehicles should be phased out around 2030 to 2035. Given average vehicle lifetimes of 15–18 years in the markets analyzed and that Paris Agreement reduction targets need to be met by 2050, only those technologies that can achieve the decarbonization goal, should be produced and registered by around 2030 to 2035 at the latest.
Based on this assessment presented, BEVs powered by renewable electricity and FCEVs fueled by green hydrogen are the only two technology pathways that qualify. Hybridization can be utilized to reduce the fuel consumption of new internal combustion engine vehicles registered over the next decade, but neither HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles ) nor PHEVs (Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) provides the magnitude of reduction in GHG emissions needed in the long term. Thus, the registration of new cars with these powertrain types needs to be phased out at best by 2030 but no later than 2035.
In the meantime, given the life-cycle GHG emission benefits that BEVs already
provide today, the transition to electric cars need not wait for future power sector
improvements. Indeed, the benefits of a continuously decarbonizing power sector can
only be captured in full if the transition to electric vehicles proceeds well ahead of that.
For more information on this report, head to the ICCT website; https://theicct.org/
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