IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i12p5431-d1677714.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment Based on Whole Industry Chain Assessment of FCEVs

Author

Listed:
  • Renzhi Lyu

    (School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Zhenpo Wang

    (School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Zhaosheng Zhang

    (School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) offer a promising solution for energy saving and emission reduction in transportation. However, several challenges must be addressed for their application. This study conducts a full life cycle assessment (LCA) of FCEVs, dividing it into the fuel cycle and vehicle cycle to separately assess energy consumption (EC) and emissions. The fuel cycle examined 18 hydrogen production–storage–transport pathways, while the vehicle cycle evaluates energy use and emissions associated with vehicle component production, assembly, disposal, battery production, and fluid consumption. Based on the GREET database, total energy consumption and emissions over a lifetime were calculated. Five environmental impact indicators were used for evaluation, and a comprehensive environmental assessment (CEA) indicator was established for different scenarios. Results indicate that nuclear thermochemical water splitting is the best hydrogen production method, and pipeline transportation is the most efficient for hydrogen transport. Additionally, water electrolysis for hydrogen production is only practical when paired with renewable energy. The study also identified that the Hydrogen production method, “Body”, “Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) System”, “Chassis”, “Hydrogen Storage System” and lifetime significantly impact energy consumption and emissions. These stages or products represent high-impact leverage points for enhancing the lifecycle sustainability evaluation of FCEVs.

Suggested Citation

  • Renzhi Lyu & Zhenpo Wang & Zhaosheng Zhang, 2025. "Life Cycle Assessment Based on Whole Industry Chain Assessment of FCEVs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-23, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5431-:d:1677714
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5431/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5431/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geoffrey Hammond, 2007. "Time to give due weight to the 'carbon footprint' issue," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7125), pages 256-256, January.
    2. Dorota Burchart & Iga Przytuła, 2025. "Review of Environmental Life Cycle Assessment for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles in Road Transport," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-28, March.
    3. Guo, Xiaopeng & Li, Wenjing & Ren, Dongfang & Chu, Junhui, 2025. "Prospects for the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    4. Saeed Solaymani & Julio Botero, 2025. "Reducing Carbon Emissions from Transport Sector: Experience and Policy Design Considerations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-23, April.
    5. Cox, Brian & Bauer, Christian & Mendoza Beltran, Angelica & van Vuuren, Detlef P. & Mutel, Christopher L., 2020. "Life cycle environmental and cost comparison of current and future passenger cars under different energy scenarios," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. Lu, Qiang & Zhang, Bo & Yang, Shichun & Peng, Zhaoxia, 2022. "Life cycle assessment on energy efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    7. Yang, Zijun & Wang, Bowen & Jiao, Kui, 2020. "Life cycle assessment of fuel cell, electric and internal combustion engine vehicles under different fuel scenarios and driving mileages in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    8. Agostini, Alessandro & Belmonte, Nadia & Masala, Alessio & Hu, Jianjiang & Rizzi, Paola & Fichtner, Maximilian & Moretto, Pietro & Luetto, Carlo & Sgroi, Mauro & Baricco, Marcello, 2018. "Role of hydrogen tanks in the life cycle assessment of fuel cell-based auxiliary power units," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 1-12.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Annika Tampe & Kristina Höse & Uwe Götze, 2023. "Sustainability-Oriented Assessment of Fuel Cells—A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-33, September.
    2. Desreveaux, A. & Bouscayrol, A. & Trigui, R. & Hittinger, E. & Castex, E. & Sirbu, G.M., 2023. "Accurate energy consumption for comparison of climate change impact of thermal and electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    3. Shi, Lei & Wu, Rongxin & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Where will go for electric vehicles in China after the government subsidy incentives are abolished? A controversial consumer perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    4. da Costa, Vinicius Braga Ferreira & Bitencourt, Leonardo & Dias, Bruno Henriques & Soares, Tiago & de Andrade, Jorge Vleberton Bessa & Bonatto, Benedito Donizeti, 2025. "Life cycle assessment comparison of electric and internal combustion vehicles: A review on the main challenges and opportunities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    5. Kamilė Petrauskienė & Arvydas Galinis & Daina Kliaugaitė & Jolanta Dvarionienė, 2021. "Comparative Environmental Life Cycle and Cost Assessment of Electric, Hybrid, and Conventional Vehicles in Lithuania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, January.
    6. Liu, Yajie & Dong, Feng & Wang, Yulong & Li, Jingyun & Qin, Chang, 2023. "Assessment of the energy-saving and environment effects of China's gasoline vehicle withdrawal under the impact of geopolitical risks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    7. Tang, Qingsong & Yang, Yang & Luo, Chang & Yang, Zhong & Fu, Chunyun, 2022. "A novel electro-hydraulic compound braking system coordinated control strategy for a four-wheel-drive pure electric vehicle driven by dual motors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    8. Yadav, Deepak & Banerjee, Rangan, 2020. "Net energy and carbon footprint analysis of solar hydrogen production from the high-temperature electrolysis process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    9. Liang, Yanan & Kleijn, René & Tukker, Arnold & van der Voet, Ester, 2022. "Material requirements for low-carbon energy technologies: A quantitative review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Andri Ottesen & Sumayya Banna & Basil Alzougool, 2022. "Attitudes of Drivers towards Electric Vehicles in Kuwait," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
    11. Florenta Dinita & George Barjoveanu & Carmen Teodosiu, 2025. "An Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of End-of-Life Vehicles Management in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Adeline Gu'eret & Wolf-Peter Schill & Carlos Gaete-Morales, 2024. "Impacts of electric carsharing on a power sector with variable renewables," Papers 2402.19380, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    13. Zhao, Lei & Yuan, Hao & Xie, Jiaping & Jiang, Shangfeng & Wei, Xuezhe & Tang, Wei & Ming, Pingwen & Dai, Haifeng, 2023. "Inconsistency evaluation of vehicle-oriented fuel cell stacks based on electrochemical impedance under dynamic operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    14. Lu, Qiang & Zhang, Bo & Yang, Shichun & Peng, Zhaoxia, 2022. "Life cycle assessment on energy efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    15. Guo, Yi & Tang, Yuming & Wang, Lingzi & Wang, Yuli & Peng, Xueyuan, 2024. "Optimal design of operating frequency for the ionic liquid compressor applied in hydrogen storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PB).
    16. Desantes, J.M. & Novella, R. & Pla, B. & Lopez-Juarez, M., 2021. "Impact of fuel cell range extender powertrain design on greenhouse gases and NOX emissions in automotive applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    17. Erika Michela Dematteis & Jussara Barale & Marta Corno & Alessandro Sciullo & Marcello Baricco & Paola Rizzi, 2021. "Solid-State Hydrogen Storage Systems and the Relevance of a Gender Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-26, September.
    18. Tian, Mei-Hui & Hu, Yu-Jie & Li, Chengjiang & Tao, Yao & Wang, Honglei, 2025. "The development pathway for hydrogen fuel cell heavy duty trucks in China: An energy-environment-economy life cycle assessment approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    19. Ramachandran Kannan & Evangelos Panos & Stefan Hirschberg & Tom Kober, 2022. "A net‐zero Swiss energy system by 2050: Technological and policy options for the transition of the transportation sector," Futures & Foresight Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(3-4), September.
    20. Bassem Haidar & Pascal da Costa & Jan Lepoutre & Fabrice Vidal, 2020. "Which combination of battery capacity and charging power for battery electric vehicles: urban versus rural French case studies," Post-Print hal-03071656, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5431-:d:1677714. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.