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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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Abbreviations

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

P e :

Electricity power

Q :

Flow rate

S :

Hydrogen delivery distance

p :

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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Acknowledgements

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

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fuel Cell and Energy Storage Center, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Control and Simulation of Power Systems and Generation Equipment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ziyuan Teng, Chao Tan, Peiyuan Liu & Minfang Han

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  1. Ziyuan Teng
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  2. Chao Tan
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  3. Peiyuan Liu
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Correspondence to Minfang Han.

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Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Teng, Z., Tan, C., Liu, P. et al. Analysis on carbon emission reduction intensity of fuel cell vehicles from a life-cycle perspective. Front. Energy 18, 16–27 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-023-0909-1

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