Lightweighting and electrification strategies for improving environmental performance of passenger cars in India by 2030: A critical perspective based on life cycle assessment

摘要

The Indian automotive industry is faced with an unenviable challenge of achieving a sustainable growth in one of the largest markets. Adapting to increasingly strict environmental norms by the government committed to reducing the national greenhouse gas emissions, growing concerns amongst the citizens over the deteriorating air quality in the cities are the major environmental sustainability challenges for the auto industry in next decade. In this study, we analyze the potential benefits of vehicle light weighting and introduction of electric vehicles through a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of a standard sedan passenger vehicle. Based on the LCA results, five different scenarios are envisioned with different composition of the passenger vehicle fleet in 2030. These scenarios are used to analyze three key enviro-economical goals for India; (1) dependency on crude oil imports, (2) GHG emission reduction targets and (3) improvement in urban air quality. The results indicate that global warming potential (GWP) and fossil depletion impacts of ICEs can be reduced by 17%, while metal depletion reduces by 34% per vehicle with lightweighting. However, increase in freshwater ecotoxicity impact by 57% is one of the trade-offs. The GWP of a compact BEV powered with current (2014) and 2030 electricity grid mixes is 36% and 16% higher than petrol car. The GWP of a sub-compact BEV powered with current grid mix is 9% higher with current grid mix but 14% lower than petrol cars when powered with 2030 electricity grid mix. Crude oil consumption and GHG emissions are reduced by 20% with lightweight ICE fleet. Whereas, up to 45% reduction in crude oil consumption and 65% improvement in urban air quality can be achieved with BEV penetration scenarios. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.