Life Cycle Assessment of Fuel Cell Vehicles Considering the Detailed Vehicle Components: Comparison and Scenario Analysis in China Based on Different Hydrogen Production Schemes

Yisong Chen, Xu Hu and Jiahui Liu
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Yisong Chen: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Xu Hu: School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Jiahui Liu: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-24

Abstract: Numerous studies concerning the life cycle assessment of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have been conducted. However, little attention has been paid to the life cycle assessment of an FCV from the perspective of the detailed vehicle components. This work conducts the life cycle assessment of Toyota Mirai with all major components considered in a Chinese context. Both the vehicle cycle and the fuel cycle are included. Both comprehensive resources and energy consumption and comprehensive environmental emissions of the life cycles are investigated. Potential environmental impacts are further explored based on CML 2001 method. Then different hydrogen production schemes are compared to obtain the most favorable solution. To explore the potential of the electrolysis, the scenario analysis of the power structure is conducted. The results show that the most mineral resources are consumed in the raw material acquisition stage, the most fossil energy is consumed in the use stage and global warming potential (GWP) value is fairly high in all life cycle stages of Toyota Mirai using electrolyzed hydrogen. For hydrogen production schemes, the scenario analysis indicates that simply by optimizing the power structure, the environmental impact of the electrolysis remains higher than other schemes. When using the electricity from hydropower or wind power, the best choice will be the electrolysis.

Keywords: hydrogen; fuel cell vehicles; life cycle assessment; scenario analysis; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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