Life cycle assessment of fuel cells electric vehicles

In recent years, regarding the influence of the production processes and vehicles on the environment, new technical solutions for reducing air pollutions have been studied and developed. One of the new constructions is fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). The production and running conditions of the vehicles are specific in different countries. Hence, a study of these conditions and fuel production process is needed. In this paper, a study of the FCEV efficiency, at different producing technologies of hydrogen (H2), is carried out. Life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used. A comparison, concerning fuel consumption and emissions as CO2 equivalent for the whole life cycle, is done for FCEV and conventional gasoline vehicle (GV). The influence of the energy mix and technology of production of hydrogen on spent energy and air pollution is analyzed. As the results show, in countries with CO2 emissions over 447 g per 1 kWh electricity, the technology of hydrogen production from natural gas is most effective. Now and in the near future, the ecological and financial advantages, connected to renovation of existing vehicle fleet with FCEV, are not absolutely verified.