Are electric vehicles cost competitive? A case study for China based on a lifecycle assessment

Investigation and modeling of electric vehicle enablers (EVE) for successful penetration in context to India: mitigating the effect of urban sprawl on transportation

Urban sprawl in context to transportation is a matter of serious concern. It creates unusual environmental challenges for an emerging economy like India, known for geographical spread, population, and use of fossil fuel-based automobiles on road. Indian automotive sector is often held responsible for the emission of greenhouse gasses causing serious environmental deterioration. Government at both central and state levels is dealing with this challenge in two ways-adding more infrastructure for public transport and encouraging electrical vehicles (EVs). Adoption of EVs for public mobility is eco-friendlier and economic. But it is observed that EV penetration in many pockets is not growing and is yet to mature for usage. Regardless of subsidies, it is not picking up as expected and needs to be investigated. Earlier research mainly focused on reporting barriers and did not guide EV penetration enablers. This study bridges the research gap and offers useful insights about EV penetration phenomenon and makes use of both qualitative and quantitative treatments. Accordingly, it models thirteen enablers, guides about tangling interrelationships using an interpretive structural modeling (ISM), and validates it using best worst method (BWM) approach. The study reports six key enablers, which are-developing high-capacity batteries with short recharge time, improving service support, framing promotive government policies, lowering electricity tariffs using sustainable and reliable sources, and reducing dependence on imported raw materials. These enablers need an urgent attention from the industries and researchers for successful EV penetration in Indian context. Authors hope the findings will be useful for other developing countries as well and will influence both researchers and practitioners.

Life cycle environmental impact assessment for battery-powered electric vehicles at the global and regional levels

As an important part of electric vehicles, lithium-ion battery packs will have a certain environmental impact in the use stage. To analyze the comprehensive environmental impact, 11 lithium-ion battery packs composed of different materials were selected as the research object. By introducing the life cycle assessment method and entropy weight method to quantify environmental load, a multilevel index evaluation system was established based on environmental battery characteristics. The results show that the Li-S battery is the cleanest battery in the use stage. In addition, in terms of power structure, when battery packs are used in China, the carbon footprint, ecological footprint, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, human toxicity cancer and human toxicity noncancer are much higher than those in the other four regions. Although the current power structure in China is not conducive to the sustainable development of electric vehicles, the optimization of the power structure is expected to make electric vehicles achieve clean driving in China.

A review of energy harvesting from regenerative shock absorber from 2000 to 2021: advancements, emerging applications, and technical challenges

In the automotive and transportation sectors, technological advancements and innovations aim to reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions of vehicles. In vehicles, a significant portion of fuel energy is wasted in heat, vibrations, and frictional losses. The vibration energy from vehicle suspension systems is always wasted in heat and can be utilized for useful purposes. Many researchers have designed various regenerative shock absorbers (RSA) to transform vibration energy into electrical energy that can charge electric vehicles' batteries and power low-wattage devices. The present work focuses on an in-depth summary of rotary, hydraulic, and linear electromagnetic RSA. Also, the applications of regenerated energy and technical challenges are discussed. In RSA, the maximum energy harvesting, and ride comfort of the vehicle cannot be achieved simultaneously. The weight of RSA may increase due to the integration of some additional components compared with conventional shock absorbers. It is necessary to examine the impact of weight on the vehicle's road handling and ride comfort. The hydraulic RSAs have low energy harvesting efficiency, so they are not suitable for lightweight vehicles despite their higher energy harvestability than rotary and linear RSAs. The bibliometric analysis is conducted using the visualization of similarities (VOS) viewer to visualize the contributing authors and countries and specify the research themes. The articles are collected from the Web of Science using keywords related to energy harvesting from 2000 to 2021. Authors from China are more productive than others, with the highest number of publications related to the energy-harvesting from RSAs in 2019.

Greenhouse gas emission benefits of adopting new energy vehicles in Suzhou City, China: A case study

The promotion of new energy in light-duty vehicles (LDVs) is considered as an effective approach for achieving low-carbon road transport targets. In this study, life cycle assessment was performed for five typical vehicle models in Suzhou City (fourth largest LDV stock in China): internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV), battery electric vehicle (BEV) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV). Their energy consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions during vehicle and fuel cycles in 2020 were examined using the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model. GHG emission reduction potential of LDV fleet was projected under various scenarios for 2021-2040. The results showed that BEVs exhibited advantages for replacing ICEVs over HEVs, PHEVs and HFCVs, taking into account China's road electrification policy. The GHG emission intensity of BEVs in 2040 was estimated to be 19-34% of ICEVs in 2020, with a deep decarbonized electricity mix and improved vehicle efficiency. For the aggressive Sustainable Development Scenario, the GHG emissions of LDVs would peak before 2026, ahead of China's target by 2030, and the ~ 100% share of EVs in 2040 would result in a lower GHG emissions, equivalent to the 2010 level. It highlights the importance of early action, green electricity mix, and public transport development in reducing GHG emissions of large LDV fleet.