Comparative Environmental Assessment of a Gasoline and Fuel Cell Vehicle with Alternative Hydrogen Pathways in Iran

A comparative full life cycle assessment of a gasoline vehicle and a fuel cell vehicle (FCV) with five different fuel cycles including steam methane reforming (SMR), coal gasification, photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal, and grid-based electrolysis is presented in this paper. The results show that the total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are mainly found in the materials production and the component manufacturing stages of the FCV. Among various hydrogen production methods, the FCV with PV electrolysis has the lowest GHG emissions of 0.13 kg CO2 eq./km. The total GHG emissions of the gasoline vehicle are estimated as 0.30 kg CO2 eq./km mainly from the operation stage. An uncertainty analysis is carried out to assess the effects of variations of different input parameters on the total emissions. With a 95% level of confidence, the total emissions of the FCV with PV electrolysis is 0.18±0.05 kg CO2 eq./km. The component manufacturing and assembly stage drives the total GHG emissions uncertainty the most.