Life cycle assessment of city buses powered by electricity, hydrogenated vegetable oil or diesel
Journal article, 2019

This study explores life cycle environmental impacts of city buses, depending on the: (1) degree of electrification; (2) electricity supply mix, for chargeable options; and (3) choice of diesel or hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), a biodiesel, for options with combustion engine. It is a case study, which uses industry data to investigate the impact on climate change, a key driver for electrification, and a wider set of impacts, for average operation in Sweden, the European Union and the United States of America. The results show that non-chargeable hybrid electric vehicles provide clear climate change mitigation potential compared to conventional buses, regardless of the available fuel being diesel or HVO. When fueling with HVO, plug-in hybrid and all-electric buses provide further benefits for grid intensities below 200 g CO₂ eq./kWh. For diesel, the all-electric option is preferable up to 750 g CO₂ eq./kWh. This is the case despite batteries and other electric powertrain parts causing an increase of CO₂ emissions from vehicle production. However, material processing to make common parts, i.e. chassis, frame and body, dominates the production load for all models. Consequently, city buses differ from passenger cars, where the battery packs play a larger role. In regard to other airborne pollutants, the all-electric bus has the best potential to reduce impacts overall, but the results depend on the amount of fossil fuels and combustion processes in the electricity production. For toxic emissions and resource use, the extraction of metals and fossil fuels calls for attention.

Vehicle

Bus

Battery

City

Electric

Plug-in

HVO

LCA

Diesel

Public transport

Author

Anders Nordelöf

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Environmental Systems Analysis

Mia Romare

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Johan Tivander

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Environmental Systems Analysis

Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

1361-9209 (ISSN)

Vol. 75 211-222

LCA of public transportation with electrically propelled buses, step 2

Chalmers, 2017-11-01 -- .

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Transport

Energy

Subject Categories

Transport Systems and Logistics

Other Environmental Engineering

Environmental Sciences

Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.trd.2019.08.019

More information

Latest update

2/23/2021