Applied Sciences (Aug 2018)

Electricity Generation in LCA of Electric Vehicles: A Review

  • Benedetta Marmiroli,
  • Maarten Messagie,
  • Giovanni Dotelli,
  • Joeri Van Mierlo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app8081384
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 8
p. 1384

Abstract

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Life Cycle assessments (LCAs) on electric mobility are providing a plethora of diverging results. 44 articles, published from 2008 to 2018 have been investigated in this review, in order to find the extent and the reason behind this deviation. The first hurdle can be found in the goal definition, followed by the modelling choice, as both are generally incomplete and inconsistent. These gaps influence the choices made in the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) stage, particularly in regards to the selection of the electricity mix. A statistical regression is made with results available in the literature. It emerges that, despite the wide-ranging scopes and the numerous variables present in the assessments, the electricity mix’s carbon intensity can explain 70% of the variability of the results. This encourages a shared framework to drive practitioners in the execution of the assessment and policy makers in the interpretation of the results.

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