With the emergence of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), new consideration must be given to life cycle climate performance (LCCP) evaluations to support analysis of BEVs and their associated mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems. Instead of estimating greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG) from fuel consumption, as in ICE vehicles, emissions from BEVs are dependent on carbon emission intensities produced by electricity generation for the energy the BEVs consume.
MAC systems in BEVs differ from those of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in that their air conditioning (AC) compressors are electrically driven. Additionally, a BEV MAC system may consist of a heat pump which provides the vehicle with both heating and AC. Finally, a BEV may also include a chiller, acting as part of a thermal management system for the drivetrain and batteries. These system changes drive corresponding changes to vehicle test specifications and standards, and in turn, changes to software tools developed and used by industry to facilitate LCCP analysis.
This paper discusses the LCCP approach for analysis of BEVs and will demonstrate the application of the analysis to a single BEV with three different refrigerants, operating in three different locations. Three locations in China were selected for regional analysis for several key reasons: the vehicle market in China is larger compared to the U.S. and European markets, the fuel consumption and GHG emissions of gasoline cars in China for some passenger vehicle segments is higher than that of Europe, and China’s substantial reliance on coal power for electricity produces significantly higher GHG emissions compared to the U.S. and Europe.