Comparative LCA of electric, hybrid, LPG and gasoline cars in Belgian context

In this paper, an environmental comparison of electric, hybrid, LPG and gasoline passenger vehicles is performed through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. Thanks to a range-based modeling system, the variations of the weight, the fuel consumption and the emissions within the family car category are considered instead of the average values. Unlike in a classic LCA, the use phase of vehicles has been modeled to cover vehicles with both a short and long lifespan in such way that the number of times a vehicle needs to be produced to cover the comparison basis or functional unit is taken into account. According to the assumptions and the used impact calculation method, the greenhouse effect of the LPG hybrid and battery electric vehicles are respectively 20.27 %, 27.44 % and 78.27% lower than for the gasoline vehicles. The assessment of the impact on human health and the air acidification give the best environmental score to the battery electric vehicle. A sensitivity analysis has allowed the assessment of the correlation between the respiratory effects and the euro emission standards.