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ADAC Study: Electric Cars Are Always Better Than Combustion Engines
The automobile club ADAC and its Austrian counterpart ÖAMTC have updated the environmental balance of vehicles and already consider electric cars to be significantly more environmentally friendly than internal combustion engines. As early as 2018, the FIA and ÖAMTC commissioned a so-called "LCA (Life-Cycle Analysis) tool" from the JOANNEUM RESEARCH research company in Graz, which has now been updated. The key question was whether alternative drive technologies using electricity, hydrogen, or eFuels are more climate-friendly than conventional internal combustion engines and what the ecological footprint of different drive concepts looks like. To transparently assess the climate impact of the various drive types, all relevant energy expenditures over the entire life cycle of a vehicle must be calculated.
A current comparison of various drive types based on the "Golf class" shows that electric cars always perform better, and in general, the greenhouse gas balance of a vehicle can be improved through the use of renewable energies in their production. Significant improvements in the greenhouse gas balance of electric vehicles can also be achieved by using renewable electricity for charging. Therefore, from the ADAC's perspective, the expansion of renewable electricity sources is urgently needed to provide a sufficient supply of regeneratively generated energies for the production and operation of passenger cars.
Better performance of BEVs after just 45,000 kilometers
Compared to gasoline and diesel, an electric car powered with the German electricity mix from 2022 to 2037 over a total lifespan of 240,000 km can play out its advantages after approximately 45,000 to 60,000 km. The larger "greenhouse gas footprint" resulting from the more complex battery production can thus be quickly amortized over the vehicle's usage time. Based on the use of renewable electricity (wind), the higher greenhouse gas emissions from production can be amortized after approximately 25,000 to 30,000 km compared to gasoline or diesel.
But it's not just the electric car that performs well in the LCA study; conventional drives can also achieve good results in the greenhouse gas balance. In addition to natural gas vehicles with biomethane, which also perform well, synthetically produced regenerative fuels such as eFuels can contribute to climate protection and be used in internal combustion engines. The plug-in hybrid, as a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor, achieves a significant improvement in operation from 2022 to 2037 compared to a conventional gasoline engine, using the projected German electricity mix. However, the prerequisite for this is that the battery is regularly charged to use the electric drive. Calculation basis of the LCA study: 30 percent of the mileage is achieved electrically.
Key Factor: Renewable Energy
When using renewable energy sources, the electric car shows the best greenhouse gas balance, closely followed by the fuel cell vehicle powered by green hydrogen. The balance of the plug-in hybrid vehicle is also significantly improved when using renewable electricity. The balance of the natural gas vehicle also improves significantly when using 100 percent bio-methane. Because the CO₂ emitted during operation is extracted from the atmosphere during fuel production through the growth of plants, biofuels receive credits during fuel/energy provisioning. These credits are shown as negative values in the detailed diagram for bio-methane and are directly deducted for diesel B7 and gasoline E10.
Including Primary Energy Demand
In addition to the greenhouse gas balance, the primary energy demand of a drive type or fuel must also be considered. Here it becomes clear that significantly more energy sometimes needs to be expended to cover the same total mileage. Current evaluations showed that in terms of primary energy demand, the electric car, especially when using renewable energy (wind), is clearly ahead of the fuel cell vehicle and eFuels. The main disadvantage of eFuels is their poorer efficiency due to losses in conversion processes compared to electricity for battery-electric mobility and the higher need for renewable energy in production. Therefore, it is important to produce eFuels in regions where sunlight and wind are more consistently and intensively available.
Interactive Data Platform
Based on the "LCA-Tool" developed by JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft, an interactive LCA platform was developed in cooperation with Green NCAP. This allows consumers to determine the energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions of a vehicle over its entire lifecycle and compare different models and drive types. By connecting to the ADAC car database with over 30,000 models, comparison parameters can be adjusted to their own car and personal circumstances. This includes annual mileage and the regional electricity mix, which can also be replaced by a mix of 100 percent renewable energies. Depending on needs and conditions, up to three vehicle models can be compared.
Important Background: The LCA study considers the relevant greenhouse gas emissions of the vehicles. Other environmental impacts of pollutant emissions such as NOₓ, SO₂, particulate matter, and their consequential effects such as acidification, ozone formation and human toxicity are not included. Also, the lifecycle impacts of a traffic system on water demand, water or soil pollution, working conditions in raw material extraction, land use, and noise are not included in the assessment.
Conclusion:
The Joanneum lifecycle analysis calculated the ecological footprint of different drive concepts, from production through operation to recycling. Based on this, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- In principle, the greenhouse gas balance of a vehicle can be improved by using renewable energies in their production. For this, the production of energy-intensive materials (steel, copper, battery components) must increasingly use renewable energies from additional regenerative sources.
- With the use of renewable electricity, there is a significant improvement in the greenhouse gas balance of electric vehicles. Therefore, the expansion of renewable sources in electricity generation to create a sufficient supply of renewable energy and adapted supply networks is essential.
- Conventional drives are far from being obsolete: The positive performance of the natural gas vehicle with bio-methane shows how good the greenhouse gas balance of conventional drives can be.
- Renewably produced synthetic fuels - such as eFuels derived from renewable electricity - can also contribute to climate protection and be used in combustion engines. However, their disadvantages include poorer efficiency due to losses in conversion processes compared to electricity for battery-electric mobility and the higher need for renewable energy in fuel production. Importing from sun- and wind-rich regions of the world can reduce the cost disadvantage of higher energy input and more complex production.
- Instruments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from car traffic should be technology-neutral.
Translated automatically from German.
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