Environmental analysis of road transport: Sugarcane ethanol gasoline blend flex-fuel vs battery electric vehicles in Ecuador

• Published in: Transportation research. Part D, Transport and environment Vol. 118; p. 103718
• Main Authors: Arcentales, Danilo, Silva, Carla, Ramirez, Angel D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2023
• Subjects: Carbon footprint; Decarbonization; First-generation ethanol; Life cycle assessment; Renewables; Transport; Life cycle assessment; Transport; Renewables; Carbon footprint; Decarbonization; First-generation ethanol
• ISSN: 1361-9209; 1879-2340
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2023.103718

•The global warming potential results are 130-180 g CO2-eq/km for E5 flex-fuel vehicles and 42–176 g CO2-eq/km for battery electric vehicles.•The vehicle use phase contributes 68% to a flex-fuel vehicle's global warming potential impact.•Battery electric vehicles have higher environmental impacts on freshwater and marine eutrophication potential, and metal depletion potential.•Depending on the renewable share of the electricity consumed by the battery electric vehicle, the flex-fuel vehicle can be an environmentally friendly option. Decarbonizing the passenger car transportation sector is mandatory. Nevertheless, other environmental impact categories should also be tackled. This research compares the life cycle environmental performance of passenger car transportation in Ecuador with energy carriers: first-generation ethanol-gasoline blends and electricity. The battery electric vehicle (BEV) current scenario utilizes the electricity from the 2018 national mix composed of 17% of fossil and 83% of renewable sources. Regarding the flex-fuel vehicle, the current scenario refers to the current mixture percentage of ethanol-gasoline (E5). The functional unit is defined as 1 km. The global warming potential (GWP) results are between 130-180 g CO2-eq/km for E5 and 42–176 g CO2-eq/km for BEVs. For future scenarios, the GWP ranges are 250-270 g CO2-eq/km for E15 scenarios and 80-130 g CO2-eq/km for E85 scenarios. E85 scenario has less GWP than BEVs scenarios when fossil fuel electricity is used to charge them.