Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Electric Vehicles: Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing Evaluation of Electricity Sources

Mattia Rapa, Laura Gobbi and Roberto Ruggieri
Additional contact information
Mattia Rapa: Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Rome, Italy
Roberto Ruggieri: Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-16

Abstract: The electro-mobility of vehicles could solve the negative effects of road transport, by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. However, some electric vehicles also have a negative impact on the environment related to the nature of electricity used. This paper aims to evaluate the electricity sources for electric vehicles using a Life Cycle Thinking approach. Life cycle assessment, using several midpoints and endpoint methods, highlighted that the most damaging sources were lignite and diesel, while hydropower, wind, and biomass were the most sustainable ones. Cumulative energy demand showed that biomass used the least energy (0.034 MJ eq.), but originates from 100% non-renewable sources. Lignite, which also comes from 100% non-renewable sources, used the most energy (17.791 MJ eq.). The lowest carbon footprints were for wind, biomass, and photovoltaic (<0.1 kg CO 2 eq). Municipal waste incineration and natural gas had a medium impact, while lignite, coal, peat, and diesel had a high impact (>1.0 kg CO 2 eq.). Considering life cycle costing, photovoltaic electricity generation was the most expensive (0.2107 USD/kWh) while natural gas the cheapest (0.0661 USD/kWh). Therefore, this study presents an integrated approach that may offer a valid tool for decision-makers, giving them the possibility to choose the electricity sources for electric vehicles.

Keywords: electric vehicles; sustainability; life cycle assessment; life cycle costing; electric mobility; cumulative energy demand; carbon footprint (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6292/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6292/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:23:p:6292-:d:453183

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().