Evaluating Alternative Fuel Vehicles from Technical, Environmental and Economic Perspectives: Case of Light-Duty Vehicles in Iran

This paper presents an environmental and technoeconomic evaluation of light duty vehicles in Iran. A comprehensive well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis is applied to compare different automotive fuel chains, conventional internal combustion engines and innovative vehicle powertrains. The study examines the competitiveness of 15 various pathways in terms of energy efficiencies, GHG emissions, and levelized cost of different energy carriers. The results indicate that electric vehicles including battery electric vehicles (BEV), fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) increase the WTW energy efficiency by 54%, 51% and 46%, respectively, compared to common internal combustion engines powered by gasoline. On the other hand, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kilometer of FCV and BEV would be 48% lower than that of gasoline engines. It is concluded that BEV has the lowest total cost of energy consumption and external cost of emission, followed by internal combustion engines (ICE) fueled by CNG. Conventional internal combustion engines fueled by gasoline, on the other hand, would have the highest costs. Keywords—Well-to-Wheel analysis, Energy Efficiency, GHG emissions, Levelized cost of energy, Alternative fuel vehicles. EHICLE manufacturers and global laboratories have started projects about alternatives to alleviate the multiple threats, including climate change, urban air pollution and oil dependence for both fuels and drivetrains. On the fuel side, possibilities exist to switch from gasoline and diesel to synthetic fuels, hydrogen, bio-fuels or electricity. On the vehicle side, there is possibility to reduce fuel demand by a shift to more efficient hybrid, electric or fuel cell drivetrains [1]. The transportation sector in Iran is the second largest enduse sector which accounts for about a quarter of total final energy consumption [2]. Moreover, it is responsible for at least 23% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country [2]. Nearly the entire energy carriers used in this sector consists of petroleum products. Analysis of data on gasoline and diesel consumption in transport sector over the period 1998-2008 shows an average growth rate of 6.2% and 4.4%, respectively [3]. However, the consumption of petroleum

[1]  Sampo Soimakallio,et al.  Greenhouse gas balances of transportation biofuels, electricity and heat generation in Finland-Dealing with the uncertainties , 2009 .

[2]  A. G. Simpson,et al.  Full-cycle assessment of alternative fuels for light-duty road vehicles in Australia , 2004 .

[3]  Vincent Mahieu,et al.  Well-to-wheels analysis of future automotive fuels and powertrains in the european context , 2004 .

[4]  Wim Turkenburg,et al.  Combining hybrid cars and synthetic fuels with electricity generation and carbon capture and storage , 2011 .

[5]  Laura. Deller,et al.  Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles , 2010 .

[6]  Michael Wang,et al.  Well-to-Wheels Analysis of Advanced Fuel/Vehicle Systems — A North American Study of Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Criteria Pollutant Emissions , 2005 .

[7]  Yongling Sun,et al.  Societal Lifetime Cost Comparison of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles and Gasoline Vehicles , 2010 .

[8]  Richard S.J. Tol,et al.  The marginal damage costs of carbon-dioxide emissions’ , 2005 .

[10]  Matthew A Kromer,et al.  Electric powertrains : opportunities and challenges in the US light-duty vehicle fleet , 2007 .

[11]  J. Houghton,et al.  Climate change 2001 : the scientific basis , 2001 .

[12]  J. Barkenbus.  Our electric automotive future: CO2 savings through a disruptive technology , 2009 .

[13]  C. E. Thomas.  Transportation options in a carbon-constrained world: Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, biofuels, fuel cell electric vehicles, and battery electric vehicles , 2009 .

[14]  C. Thiel,et al.  Cost and CO2 Aspects of Future Vehicle Options in Europe under New Energy Policy Scenarios , 2010 .

[15]  Constantine Samaras,et al.  Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from plug-in hybrid vehicles: implications for policy. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[16]  Wim Turkenburg,et al.  Techno-economic comparison of series hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell and regular cars , 2010 .

[17]  Malcolm McCulloch,et al.  Modeling the prospects of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions , 2011 .

[18]  Xunmin Ou,et al.  Scenario analysis on alternative fuel/vehicle for China’s future road transport: Life-cycle energy demand and GHG emissions , 2010 .

[19]  C. E. Thomas,et al.  Fuel cell and battery electric vehicles compared , 2009 .

[20]  Marko P. Hekkert,et al.  Natural gas as an alternative to crude oil in automotive fuel chains well-to-wheel analysis and transition strategy development , 2005 .

[21]  A. Veziroğlu,et al.  Fuel cell vehicles: State of the art with economic and environmental concerns , 2011 .