The environmental effect of electric vehicles can only be assessed based on life cycle assessment (LCA) covering production, operation and end of life. Since 2011 in the Technical Collaboration Program (TCP) on “Hybrid & Electric Vehicles” (HEV) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) with 20 participating countries an expert group develops and applies LCA methodology to estimate the environmental effects of the increasing electric vehicle (EV) fleet globally. This approach was further developed to a dynamic LCA by taking the time depending effects of the BEV fleet introduction and the parallel increasing supply of renewable electricity into consideration aiming for a long-term climate neutrality. The BEV introduction in Austria started in 2010 and the BEV fleet is now 50,000 BEVs and consumes 140 GWh electricity, which is about 1% of the additional renewable electricity generated since 2010. In 2020, the GHG emissions of producing the newly registered 16,000 BEV are 170 kt CO2-eq and the GHG emissions of the BEV fleet operation are 3 kt CO2-eq. Assuming each BEV substitutes for an ICE in 2020 the BEV fleet in Austria emitted 170 kt CO2-eq and avoided 190 kt CO2-eq. In a next step this methodology was applied in scenarios up to 2050 to reach a climate neutral Austrian transport sector and to identify its necessary framework conditions.

P1-09 Climate Neutrality of Growing Electric Vehicles Fleets (2010 - 2050) in a Dynamic LCA Considering Additional Renewable Electricity: Example Austria

Reducing emissions from the transportation sector is one of the fastest ways to combat climate change. 

Electrifying mobility is propelling new technologies, empowering consumers to take concrete action and is demanding politicians to take swift and concrete action.

What will the future of electric mobility look like? And what are the biggest challenges for realizing zero emission transport on the road, at sea and in the air? 

The 13th-15th June, people from all over the world will travel to Oslo, the world’s leading player in electric transport, to participate in this year’s biggest EV conference.