Abstract
Due to required CO2 reduction strategies, new propulsion and vehicle technologies get increasingly important. An interesting question treats the CO2 reduction potential of alternative propulsion systems in combination with different scenarios of usage. The objective of the presented study includes the life cycle assessment of various kinds of propulsion systems. The life cycle analysis considers the material and energy effort of production, the impact during the use, as well as the energy supply.
The simulation includes a basic subcompact vehicle, which was equipped with different propulsion systems (internal combustion engines, electric drives, and hybrid systems) with the target do enable a comparison and assessment of the different technologies. The impact of production has been simulated based on existing data from literature for the manufacturing of propulsion technologies including their main components and modules. The impact of use has been simulated on the basis of generic user-profiles for urban areas. These user-profiles have been generated in a comprehensive customer-study and include the driving characteristics of the population in a European mid-sized city.
The results of the study include a comparison and evaluation of CO2 emissions during different phases of automotive life-cycles. It will be highlighted, that various applied technologies (e.g. propulsion concepts) show a very dissimilar behaviour during their complete life cycle, when considering different use cases. This consideration enables a discussion of future potentials for reduction of energy and resource consumption, as well as CO2 emissions.
In contrast to publications regarding greenhouse gas emissions delivered by automotive manufacturers, this paper also considers the term of production (resources, energy supply and CO2 emissions). Furthermore, it includes a comparison of different existing technologies, and considers different use-cases with different traffic performances and preferred driving regions (urban, suburban, road or highway).
Limitations of the study are given because of a limited availability of literature in view of production of cars. A part of the study is based on information from publications of automotive manufacturers and supplier; in this way, the results represent an averaged behaviour. As a difference to production, the behaviour of the in-use section has been researched in a separate accurate study, which delivered a high data quality.
KEYWORDS – life cycle assessment, alternative propulsions, light urban vehicles, CO2 reduction potential, energy consumption