Life cycle carbon footprint analysis of new energy vehicles: a comparative study of different technical routes

Abstract The development of new energy vehicles is one of the important ways to ensure energy security and reduce carbon emissions in the field of transportation. The carbon footprint of a product is a key index to measure the carbon emission of a product throughout its life cycle, which can be used to evaluate the emission reduction capacity and carbon reduction potential of different links of a product. Based on the theory of life cycle carbon footprint calculation, this paper selected three typical new energy technology routes of passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, including BEV, PHEV and FCEV, respectively, calculated the product carbon footprint of typical new energy vehicles, and compared it with that of gasoline and diesel vehicles. It is found that among the three technical routes, the carbon footprint of BEV models has obvious advantages. Compared with the traditional energy vehicles of the same type, the carbon footprint of a BEV passenger car, light-duty truck and heavy-duty truck can be reduced by 40%, 48% and 20%, respectively. The carbon emission ratio of new energy passenger and commercial vehicles in vehicle and fuel cycles is about 1:1 and 2:8, respectively. The emission reduction emphases of passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles are revealed in different links, and the reference is provided for the carbon management policy formulation of the automobile industry.