Evaluation of the Environmental Benefits of The Global EV-Fleet in 40 Countries – A LCA Based Estimation in IEA HEV

Abstract

The environmental effect of electric vehicles can only be assessed based on life cycle assessment (LCA) covering production, operation and end of life treatment. Since 2014 in the Technical Collaboration Program on “Hybrid&Electric Vehicles” (HEV) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) an expert group developed and applied the LCA to estimate the environmental effects of the increasing EV fleet globally. In 2018 about 5 million EVs were on the road in 40 countries by substituting fossil fuels ICEs. The environmental effects assessed are greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, ozone formation, particle matter emissions and primary energy consumption. Depending on the country specific electricity mix the environmental benefits are different but in total there is a significant growing improvement (2014 – 2017) on the environmental effects due to the strong increasing number of EVs globally