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8th LCA Case Studies Symposium SETAC-Europe, 2000

A simplified LCA for automotive sector comparison of ICE


(diesel and petrol), electric and hybrid vehicles
Sophie Nicolay, University of Lige, Belgium
Teller Ph., Renzoni R., Fontaine J-L., Germain A., Industrial Chemistry Department,
Lilien J-L., Transport & distribution de l'nergie lectrique,
Toussaint Y., Jamoulle A., Mcanique du Transport,
Smitz J., Centre Environnement,
University of Lige, Belgium
Tel : + 32 4 366 44 69 ; Fax : + 32 4 366 44 35 ; E-mail : Sophie.Nicolay@ulg.ac.be

Abstract
The complete life cycle assessment of a passenger car takes mainly three phases into account :
production phase, use phase and end-of-life. Unfortunately, it is well-known that complete
LCAs are time and money consuming. Since most passenger cars can be considered as having
nearly similar production and end of life phases, a simplified LCA has been achieved. This
study, based on the energy consumed and the exhaust gases emitted during the use phase of the
vehicle, involves the inventory of the whole energy supply chain from cradle (extraction of
primary energy) to gate (moving vehicle). The impact assessment has been performed by using
Eco-indicator 95. One of the main conclusions of this study is that the hybrid vehicle studied
and the electric one (consuming electricity obtained by the average Belgian production) have
nearly the same relatively small global environmental load (i.e. global Eco-scores as calculated
in EI 95) compared to the ones of the ICE vehicles (at least three times less than the diesel ICE
vehicle and four times less than the petrol one). The robustness of this conclusion has been
checked by performing a sensibility analysis at the level of the weighting of the different
impacts. The contribution of these impacts to the global Eco-score is further described. It must
be noticed that the environmental impacts associated with the fuel cycle of the electric vehicle
depends on the way of producing electricity in the country considered. The conclusions of this
study are particularly important for influencing future decisions in the field of the European
traffic policy.

Introduction
It is a matter of fact that the transportation sector contributes significantly to major
environmental impacts as air pollution and global warming. This contribution is increasing,
mainly because of the important traffic growth. Internal combustion engines are constantly
improved in order to respect European emissions standards, while electric and hybrid vehicles
are presented as an interesting way to solve the problem of the urban air pollution. It seems now
that time has come to assess the environmental performances of these alternative technologies
The LCA methodology has been chosen to compare four vehicles (diesel, petrol, electric and
hybrid ones) on the basis of a global environmental load. This comparison has been achieved
thanks to Eco-indicator 95 (Goedkoop, 1995). It must be noticed that an other weighting set has
also been used at the valuation step in order to check the robustness of the final results.

Goal and scope of the study


The goal of this study is to simplify the comparison of vehicles on an environmental basis by
aggregating the different environmental impacts resulting from the inventory of the whole
energy supply chain.

The main technical characteristics of the four vehicles studied are described in table 1 :
Mitsubishi 2000 cm3

Seat Ibiza TDI

Peugeot 106

Toyota Prius

Energy Supply

Petrol

Diesel

Electricity

Petrol + Electricity

Max. Power

106 kW

81 kW

20 kW

75 kW

Exhaust Gas Recycle

Yes

Yes

--

Yes

Catalyst

3 ways catalyst

Oxidation catalyst

--

3 ways catalyst

Battery

Lead-Acid

Lead-Acid

NiCd

Ni-MH

Table 1 Main technical characteristics of the four vehicles studied.


Two assumptions have been considered for the electric vehicle : in the first one, the electricity
needed is obtained by the average Belgian production and in the second one, the same vehicle
consume an other average electricity which does not take the nuclear plants into account.
The functional unit (FU) is defined in the ISO standard as a quantified performance of a
product system for use as a reference unit in a life cycle assessment. In this study, 1
kilometer is chosen as the FU. It must be noticed that the four vehicles studied have some very
different characteristics (power, autonomy, safety, etc.) that are not included in the FU.
However, these vehicles are compared as much as possible on a common basis (they are all
recent vehicles, with the same number of passengers and the same real driving cycle chosen to
assess the impact of the use phase).
The system boundaries correspond to the whole energy supply chain from cradle (extraction of
primary energy) to gate (moving vehicle). These limits include :
1. For the electric vehicle : the fuels production and preparation, the electricity production in
Belgium, the distribution of electricity (which involves losses) and the vehicle use phase.
Fuels production

Electricity

Distribution

Vehicle

and preparation

production

network

use phase

Figure 1 Energy supply chain of the electric vehicle.


2. For the ICE and hybrid vehicles : the oil extraction, the oil transported by boat, the refining,
the different fuels transported by boat to intermediate stocks, and then by lorry to the
refuelling station, the refuelling (which involves losses) and finally the vehicle use phase.
Oil extraction

Fuels transported

Refuelling

Vehicle

and refining

(boat and road)

(losses)

use phase

Figure 2 Energy supply chain of the ICE and hybrid vehicles.

Life cycle inventory


Evaluating each of the alternatives requires a life cycle perspective. In this study, the life cycle
considered is in fact a fuel cycle which includes the previously defined steps.
For emissions, our study includes the major GHGs (carbon dioxide [CO2], methane [CH4] and
nitrous oxide [N2O]), but also other pollutants (particulate matter [PM10], carbon monoxide
[CO], nitrogen oxide [NOX], sulphur oxide [SO2] and hydrocarbons [HC]). Unfortunately, some
interesting emission data (heavy metals, PAH, etc.) couldnt be collected for the whole fuel
cycle and werent therefore included in this study.
Table 2 gives an order of magnitude of the emissions related to the different fuel cycles.
CO2
(g/km)

CH4
(g/km)

N2O
(g/km)

PM10
(g/km)

CO
(g/km)

NOX
(g/km)

SO2
(g/km)

HC
(g/km)

Petrol vehicle

217

0.021

0.050

0.008

3.020

0.478

0.157

0.783

Diesel vehicle

170

0.006

0.010

0.106

0.860

0.927

0.118

0.229

Electric vehicle
(average production)

73

0.139

5.6E-5

0.017

0.050

0.145

0.186

0.002

Electric vehicle
(without nuclear power)

163

0.311

1.0E-4

0.033

0.126

0.323

0.416

0.004

Hybrid vehicle

104

0.010

0.024

0.004

0.556

0.121

0.076

0.156

Table 2 Inventory of the global emissions related to the different fuel cycles .
Table 2 shows that :
-

The CO2 emissions are directly linked to the energy consumption of the vehicles and also to
the efficiency of the other steps of the fuel cycle. These results show that the hybrid
vehicle needs less energy than the ICE ones. If the real Belgian production of electricity is
assumed, the lowest level of CO2 emitted corresponds to the electric vehicle.

The PM10 emissions which are released during the use phase of the diesel vehicle are very
high.

The CO and HC emissions which are released during the use phase of the diesel vehicle are
high. This means that the internal combustion is far from being complete in the case of a
petrol vehicle. It must be noticed that the CO emissions are not integrated in the Ecoindicator 95 method (but they are integrated in a more recent version of this method : Ecoindicator 99).

It is well-known that the CH4 emissions which correspond to the extraction of coal are
higher than the ones which correspond to the extraction of petrol. The fact that these
emissions are higher for the electric vehicle is then easily understandable.

The NOX emissions are usually considered as one of the weakest points of the diesel
vehicles. These emissions are very low in the case of the hybrid vehicle.

The SO2 emissions resulting from the Belgian production of electricity are high, which can
explain the bad results associated with the SO2 emissions of the fuel cycle of the electric
vehicle studied.

Impact assessment
The Eco-indicator 95 method was used to calculate the environmental impacts. The emission
data collected during the inventory participate to five environmental impacts : acidification,
greenhouse effect, winter smog, summer smog and eutrophication.
The results of the valuation are shown in figure 3.
Valuation
Inhab.year/km
Petrol-ICE
Diesel-ICE
EV (Belgian average)
EV (without nucl.)
Hybrid

7,0E-05
6,0E-05
5,0E-05
4,0E-05
3,0E-05
2,0E-05
1,0E-05
0,0E+00
Acidification

Greenh.

W. smog

S. smog

Eutrophic.

Figure 3 Results of the Valuation.


Figure 3 shows that the hybrid vehicle has the lowest score for three impacts : acidification,
winter smog and eutrophication. However, the two other impacts (greenhouse effect and
summer smog) are lower for the electric vehicle (if the average Belgian production of electricity
is assumed). Furthermore, it is interesting to attribute weights to these five impacts, even if it
seems obvious from now that the new technologies (electric and hybrid vehicles) have a lesser
global impact than the conventional ones (diesel and petrol vehicles).
The results of the weighting are shown in figure 4.
Comparison between global environmental loads
Eutrophication

1,60E-04

Summer smog
Winter smog
1,20E-04

Greenhouse gases
Acidification

8,00E-05

This result
was obtained
without taking
into account
problems related
to the use of
nuclear power

4,00E-05

0,00E+00
Petrol-ICE

Diesel-ICE

Figure 4 Results of the weighting.

EV (Belgian
average)

EV (without nucl.)

Hybrid

The global environmental load is calculated on the basis of the distance-to-target principle,
according to the EI 95 method. The results show that the electric and the hybrid vehicles have a
very low global Eco-score compared to the ICE ones. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the
basis of an other weighting set (for this analysis, the same weight is attributed to the five
environmental impacts). The results of this analysis clearly show that the choice between the
electric vehicle and the hybrid one is very difficult because it mainly depends on the weighting
set applied.

Conclusions
-

Life Cycle Assessment can help to compare the environmental performances of different
vehicles, even if this approach is not perfect as it does not take the spatial and temporal
aspects of the problem into account.

It must also be noticed that even if the global environmental load is very similar for both
electric and hybrid vehicles, its distribution between the five environmental impacts is
different.

The results of this LCA are strongly dependent on the energy needs of the vehicles and also
on the efficiency of the energy supply chains. This can be explained by the fact that most of
the pollutants considered (CO2, NOX, SO2,, etc.) are directly linked to the combustion
(combustion during the use phase, production of electricity, etc.).

A further step will be to integrate the whole life cycle of the vehicles (from the extraction of
raw materials to the end-of-life of the vehicle) for a broader range of alternative fuel
vehicles (CNG, fuel cell, biofuels, etc.).

References
Agence Internationale de lEnergie (1994), Vhicules lectriques : technologie, performances
et perspectives, , ditions de lOCDE.
ELECTRABEL (1998), Statistiques Environnementales 1998.
Goedkoop M. (1995), The Eco-indicator 95. Final Report, NOH report 9523, Pr Consultants,
Amersfoort (NL).
Goedkoop M., Spriensma R. (1999), The Eco-indicator 99 A damage oriented method for life
cycle impact assessment. Methodology Report, PR Consultants, Amersfoort (NL).
Gover M.P., et al. (1996), Alternative Road Transport Fuels - A Preliminary Life-cycle Study
for the UK - Volume 2, ETSU, A study co-funded by the Department of Trade and Industry and
the Department of Transport, London.
ISO (1997), Environmental Management Life Cycle Assessment Principles and Framework,
ISO 14040.
SETAC (1993), Guidelines for Life Cycle Assessment : a Code of Practice , Bruxelles (BE).
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vhicules automobiles. Application aux vhicules thermiques et lectriques, Universit de Lige,
Thse de doctorat.
UNIPEDE (1994), Comparison of emissions from combustion-engined and European
electric vehicles, UNIPEDE report 07002Ren9459 revision B.

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