Abstract
Keywords:
Well to Wheels analysis, BioFuels, Synthetic Fuels, Powertrains, Energy, Green House Gases, Emissions
Abstract:
A recent up-date of the joint Concawe/Eucar/JRC WtW analysis of future automotive fuels and powertrains in the European Context has been released with the objective to bring transparent and technically sounded data. This study deals with both the evaluation of the energy efficiency and global GreenHouse Gas emissions (CO2, CH4, and N2O as well) of a large number of vehicles and fuels available or foreseen in a midterm horizon and used under European driving conditions. The aim of the present paper is to give a specific focus on the extended range of Diesel powertrains uncluding also hybridization to be used on passenger cars in combinaison with the related fuels available or to be developed in the near and longer terms. The study covers the complete chain relevant for the evaluation of the impact of the road transport sector (from the fuel production, the distribution at the filling station to their final use on the vehicles). From such an analysis, some preferred paths could be assessed and ranked against the global contribution on climate change, as far as the GHG emissions are concerned. Apart from the fuel economy potential to be provided through technological improvements of the powertrains, a special attention is paid on the evaluation of the various pathways to produce high quality Diesel Fuels from different feedstocks and according to dedicated conversion processes. The study covers a large panel of possible primary resources including petroleum, biomass, coal or natural gas. The comparison between conventional ex. Crude Diesel, first and second generation bioDiesel and synthetic Diesel fuels is carried out under a common ranking methodology and help to pave the way towards lower global GHG emissions through the optimised match between powertrains and fuels.