Environmental Benefits of Combined Electro-Thermo-Chemical Technology over Battery-Electric Powertrains

Abstract

Electric vehicles are being promoted worldwide in an attempt to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve air-quality in cities. Yet, alternative propulsion systems could allow meeting climate change and air-quality policy goals while not raising other environmental impacts. This study offers a glimpse into the wide range of mobility solutions aside from traditional battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). We perform a comparative life-cycle assessment of a BEV with a vehicle comprised of a novel combined electro-thermo-chemical (CETC) propulsion technology composed of a fuel-cell (FC), an internal-combustion engine (ICE) and thermochemical recuperation (TCR) of waste heat. A comprehensive comparison was conducted across multiple categories of environmental impacts for the two technologies from the stage of manufacturing, through vehicle use and vehicle end-of-life. Our findings demonstrate that a vehicle comprised of the new CETC technology outperforms the BEV for the majority of environmental impacts, including climate-change, air-pollution and other human-health and ecological impact categories.