Analysis on carbon emission reduction intensity of fuel cell vehicles from a life-cycle perspective

Ziyuan TENG, Chao TAN, Peiyuan LIU, Minfang HAN

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Front. Energy ›› 2024, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (1) : 16-27. DOI: 10.1007/s11708-023-0909-1
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Analysis on carbon emission reduction intensity of fuel cell vehicles from a life-cycle perspective

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Abstract

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is rapidly developing in China for carbon reduction and neutrality. This paper evaluated the life-cycle cost and carbon emission of hydrogen energy via lots of field surveys, including hydrogen production and packing in chlor-alkali plants, transport by tube trailers, storage and refueling in hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs), and application for use in two different cities. It also conducted a comparative study for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). The result indicates that hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) has the best environmental performance but the highest energy cost. However, a sufficient hydrogen supply can significantly reduce the carbon intensity and FCV energy cost of the current system. The carbon emission for FCV application has the potential to decrease by 73.1% in City A and 43.8% in City B. It only takes 11.0%–20.1% of the BEV emission and 8.2%–9.8% of the ICEV emission. The cost of FCV driving can be reduced by 39.1% in City A. Further improvement can be obtained with an economical and “greener” hydrogen production pathway.

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Keywords

hydrogen energy / life-cycle assessment (LCA) / fuel cell vehicle / carbon emission / energy cost

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Ziyuan TENG, Chao TAN, Peiyuan LIU, Minfang HAN. Analysis on carbon emission reduction intensity of fuel cell vehicles from a life-cycle perspective. Front. Energy, 2024, 18(1): 16‒27 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-023-0909-1

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Consulting Research Project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (Grant No. 2019-XZ-51).

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-023-0909-1 and is accessible for authorized users.

Notations

ANL Argonne National Laboratory
AP Alpha plant
BEV Battery electric vehicle
CCUS Carbon capture utilization and storage
ETS Emissions trading system
FCB Fuel cell bus
FCV Fuel cell vehicle
GHG Greenhouse gas
HRS Hydrogen refueling station
ICEV Internal combustion engine vehicle
IEA International Energy Agency
LCA Life-cycle assessment
NEV New energy vehicle
NG Nature gas
OEM Original equipment manufacturer
WTW Well-to-wheel
C Energy cost
CO2 CO2 emission
E Energy consumption
F CO2 emission factor of energy
M Mass
N Vehicle number
p Pressure
P Energy price
Pe Electricity power
Q Flow rate
S Hydrogen delivery distance
ρ Density
boos Booster
comp Compressor
diesel Diesel
driv Driving
elec Electricity
E Energy
LC Life cycle
Oper Operation
Pack Packing
Prod Production
Refu Refueling
Sale Sale
Stor Storage
Tank On-board hydrogen tank
Tran Transport
u Unit

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