Abstract
As the transport sector moves towards new technological alternatives that enable a significant reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced during its operation stage, the complexity of the vehicles, their components, and supply chains increases. The current methodologies that quantify the potential environmental impact of these new technologies cannot effectively cope with this complexity, complicating the consideration of mitigation options within decision-making and engineering development activities. This chapter gives an overview of the current context of electromobility from an environmental perspective, while discussing for a change of paradigm in the application of current assessment methodologies. Finally, the outline and the context in which this research was developed are presented.
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Notes
- 1.
A well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis considers all direct and indirect emissions throughout the life cycle of an energy carrier (e.g. fuel, electricity, etc.) from its production to its consumption in form of kinetic energy at the vehicle’s wheels. Alternative analyses are: i. tank-to-wheel (TTW), which considers the conversion from energy carriers into the kinetic energy required to move the vehicle, and ii. well-to-tank (WTT), which considers exclusively the production of the energy carriers (fuels, electricity, etc.).
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Cerdas, F. (2022). Background and Context. In: Integrated Computational Life Cycle Engineering for Traction Batteries. Sustainable Production, Life Cycle Engineering and Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82934-6_1
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