Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Electric and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles in India

Over the last decades, electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as an alternative to internal combustion engine vehicles. EVs have different propulsion and fuel intake system when compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. Therefore, cradle-to-gate (CTG) and well-to-wheel (WTW) greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) would be different. In this study, life cycle GHG emissions of vehicle cycle and fuel cycle are compared between EV and internal combustion engine (ICEV) powered by petrol and diesel as fuel. This study used the average curb weight of all three types of vehicles based on the availability and popularity in the Indian market (as a case study) for life cycle assessment. The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transport (GREET) model developed by Argonne National Laboratory was adopted to conduct the life cycle assessment. The mileage of 150,000 km over the whole life period was assumed for all types of vehicles. The results revealed that GHG emissions of CTG phase for an EV is ~13.6 t CO2eq, which is 34.8% higher than the diesel-fuelled ICEV and 39.8% higher than petrol-fuelled ICEV. The WTW cycle phase GHG emissions for an EV were estimated to be ~24.478 t CO2eq which is 23.6% higher than the diesel-fuelled ICEV and 8.325% higher than petrol-fuelled ICEV. The GHG emissions for the WTW phase significantly decreased for EVs but in the CTG phase, there was no decrement in GHG emissions, which stands as a barrier to take all the environmental benefits of an EV. However, there are some opportunities to decrease the GHG emissions in both phases such as proper recycling management, clean power grid and fuel improvement.