Vehicle's lightweight design vs. electrification from life cycle assessment perspective

Mayyas, Ahmad; Omar, Mohammed; Hayajneh, Mohammed; Mayyas, Abdel Raouf

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.145

Vehicle's lightweight design vs. electrification from life cycle assessment perspective

Journal Article · Thu Aug 17 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.145· OSTI ID:1408998

Mayyas, Ahmad ^[1]; Omar, Mohammed ^[2]; Hayajneh, Mohammed ^[3]; Mayyas, Abdel Raouf ^[4]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Strategic Energy Analysis Center
Masdar Inst. of Science & Technology, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
Jordan Univ. of Science & Technology, Irbid (Jordan)
Arizona State Univ., Mesa, AZ (United States). Ira Fulton School of Engineering, Dept. of Manufacturing Engineering Technology

Lightwiegh materials and vehicles' electrification are among the most viable and economic solutions to improve fuel ecocnmoy of vehicles and reduce environmental impacts in the operational phase of typical vehicle's life cycle span. This study aims to shed more light on the combined effect of lightweighing and electrification by assessing different lightweight designs and electric powetrians from the environmental perspective using a life cycle analysis coupled with an emphasis on energy expenditures and carbon dioxide emissions. This article discusses the life cycle assessment for several advanced powertrains namely; plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) relative to the conventional gasoline operated internal combustion engine based power train vehicles. The main focus will be on the energy greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the material extraction and resources phase, manufacturing phase and use phase (operation and maintenance). While most of the current studies focus on the use phase that does not reflect the correct environmental impacts associated with advanced powertrains, thus the presented text applies a holistic LCA approach that covers pre-manufacturing, manufacturing, operational and end-of-life phases, plus another indirect phase to account for fuel extraction, refining and transportation to the end-users or customers. Based on the LCA emissions results, one may infer that environmental policies that reduce emissions rates from the electricity sector can mitigate this effect without completely eliminating it. Interestingly, the analysis show that lightweight vehicles with internal combustion engines have less impacts on the environment as a direct result of upstream emissions associated with electricity generation in United States. This scenario can differ in other countries with higher renewable and sustainable energy generated electric powers.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1408998

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--6A20-67251

Journal Information:: Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal Name: Journal of Cleaner Production Journal Issue: C Vol. 167; ISSN 0959-6526

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (21)

Life cycle environmental assessment of paint processes Papasavva, Stella; Kia, Sheila; Claya, Joseph Journal of Coatings Technology, Vol. 74, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02720151	journal	February 2002
On the calculation of fuel savings through lightweight design in automotive life cycle assessments Koffler, Christoph; Rohde-Brandenburger, Klaus The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 15, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-009-0127-z	journal	October 2009
Life cycle assessment of automotive lightweighting through polymers under US boundary conditions Koffler, Christoph The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 19, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-013-0652-7	journal	October 2013
Environmental impacts of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles—what can we learn from life cycle assessment? Nordelöf, Anders; Messagie, Maarten; Tillman, Anne-Marie The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 19, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0788-0	journal	August 2014
Vehicle lightweighting vs. electrification: Life cycle energy and GHG emissions results for diverse powertrain vehicles Lewis, Anne Marie; Kelly, Jarod C.; Keoleian, Gregory A. Applied Energy, Vol. 126 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.03.023	journal	August 2014
The environmental performance of current and future passenger vehicles: Life cycle assessment based on a novel scenario analysis framework Bauer, Christian; Hofer, Johannes; Althaus, Hans-Jörg Applied Energy, Vol. 157 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.019	journal	November 2015
Conventional, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles? State-based comparative carbon and energy footprint analysis in the United States Onat, Nuri Cihat; Kucukvar, Murat; Tatari, Omer Applied Energy, Vol. 150 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.04.001	journal	July 2015
Energy analysis of batteries in photovoltaic systems. Part I: Performance and energy requirements Rydh, Carl Johan; Sandén, Björn A. Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 46, Issue 11-12, p. 1957-1979 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2004.10.003	journal	July 2005
Energy analysis of batteries in photovoltaic systems. Part II: Energy return factors and overall battery efficiencies Rydh, Carl Johan; Sandén, Björn A. Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 46, Issue 11-12, p. 1980-2000 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2004.10.004	journal	July 2005
Life cycle inventory study on magnesium alloy substitution in vehicles Hakamada, Masataka; Furuta, Tetsuharu; Chino, Yasumasa Energy, Vol. 32, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2006.10.020	journal	August 2007
Life cycle assessment-based selection for a sustainable lightweight body-in-white design Mayyas, Ahmad T.; Qattawi, Ala; Mayyas, Abdel Raouf Energy, Vol. 39, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2011.12.033	journal	March 2012
Life cycle inventory data for materials grouped according to environmental and material properties Rydh, Carl Johan; Sun, Mingbo Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 13, Issue 13-14 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.05.012	journal	November 2005
An Empirical Study of the Energy Consumption in Automotive Assembly Fysikopoulos, A.; Anagnostakis, D.; Salonitis, K. Procedia CIRP, Vol. 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2012.07.082	journal	January 2012
Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of Lithium-Ion and Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries for Plug-In Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles Majeau-Bettez, Guillaume; Hawkins, Troy R.; Strømman, Anders Hammer Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 45, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/es103607c	journal	May 2011
Implications of Driving Patterns on Well-to-Wheel Performance of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles Raykin, Leon; MacLean, Heather L.; Roorda, Matthew J. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 46, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/es203981a	journal	May 2012
Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles: Implications for Policy Samaras, Constantine; Meisterling, Kyle Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 42, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/es702178s	journal	May 2008
Comparative Assessment of Hybrid Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicles Based on Comprehensive Well-to-Wheels Efficiency Analysis Williamson, S. S.; Emadi, A. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 54, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2005.847444	journal	May 2005
Life Cycle Assessment of a Lithium-Ion Battery Vehicle Pack: LCA of a Li-Ion Battery Vehicle Pack Ellingsen, Linda Ager-Wick; Majeau-Bettez, Guillaume; Singh, Bhawna Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 18, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12072	journal	November 2013
Determinants of US passenger car weight MacKenzie, Donald; Zoepf, Stephen; Heywood, John International Journal of Vehicle Design, Vol. 65, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1504/IJVD.2014.060066	journal	January 2014
Life-Cycle Analysis of Production and Recycling of Lithium Ion Batteries Gaines, Linda; Sullivan, John; Burnham, Andrew Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2252, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3141/2252-08	journal	January 2011
The Trade-off between Automobile Acceleration Performance, Weight, and Fuel Consumption Cheah, Lynette W.; Bandivadekar, Anup P.; Bodek, Kristian M. SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants, Vol. 1, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.4271/2008-01-1524	journal	June 2008

Cited By (4)

Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emission of lightweight vehicle – A body-in-white design Sun, Xin; Meng, Fanran; Liu, Jingru Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 220 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.225	journal	May 2019
A novel method to improve vehicle energy efficiency: Minimization of tire power loss Sina, Naser; Hairi Yazdi, Mohammad Reza; Esfahanian, Vahid Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, Vol. 234, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1177/0954407019861241	journal	July 2019
Comparative Life Cycle Energy and GHG Emission Analysis for BEVs and PhEVs: A Case Study in China Xiong, Siqin; Ji, Junping; Ma, Xiaoming Energies, Vol. 12, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.3390/en12050834	journal	March 2019
Energy Efficiency or Conservation for Mitigating Climate Change? Moriarty, Patrick; Honnery, Damon Energies, Vol. 12, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.3390/en12183543	journal	September 2019

Similar Records

Lightweighting Impacts on Fuel Economy, Cost, and Component Losses

Conference · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2012 · OSTI ID:1076639

Life Cycle Assessment of Vehicle Lightweighting: A Physics-Based Model To Estimate Use-Phase Fuel Consumption of Electrified Vehicles

Journal Article · Wed Aug 17 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Environmental Science and Technology · OSTI ID:1424998

Charting the Path to Electrification: Analyzing the Economic and Technological Potential of Advanced Vehicle Powertrains

Journal Article · Tue Feb 04 23:00:00 EST 2025 · World Electric Vehicle Journal · OSTI ID:2511337

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
auto-bodies
automotive
electric vehicles
life cycle analysis
lightweight
sustainability

Vehicle's lightweight design vs. electrification from life cycle assessment perspective

Citation Formats

References (21)

Cited By (4)

Similar Records

Related Subjects