Prioritizing the hydrogen pathways for fuel cell vehicles: Analysis of the life-cycle environmental impact, economic cost, and environmental efficiency

Yadong Yu, Ying Guo and Tieju Ma

Energy, 2023, vol. 281, issue C

Abstract: The deployment of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) is very important for the decarbonization of the transportation sector. While the energy infrastructure is regarded as a critical factor for the deployment of FCVs, it is still unclear which hydrogen pathway of FCVs has the highest environmental efficiency and should be prioritized, thus restricting the development of related energy infrastructures. Therefore, 17 major hydrogen pathways of FCVs in China are designed in this study, and their environmental impacts, economic costs, and environmental efficiencies are evaluated and compared with those of the energy pathway for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The results show that the pathways with electrolysis hydrogen from renewables have lower emissions and higher economic costs, which is contrary to the pathways with fossil-based hydrogen. Among the 17 pathways, the pathway with hydrogen from coke oven gas has the most life-cycle environmental efficiency and should be prioritized; however, it is still lower than that of the energy pathway for BEVs. As a higher share of renewables in the total electricity generation would lead to a higher environmental efficiency of hydrogen electrolysis, the hydrogen pathway with renewables could potentially be the most cost-efficient pathway with a decrease in the cost of renewables.

Keywords: Fuel cell vehicles; Hydrogen pathway; Environmental efficiency; Data envelopment analysis; Life cycle analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:281:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223017164

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128322

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