Simulation of GHG Emissions for Production Phase of Battery Electric and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric HDVs under Different Electricity Grid Mixes

The depletion of fossil fuels and the emergence of global warming propel public sectors to explore alternative energy such as renewable electricity and hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Numerous studies have demonstrated substantial environmental benefits of electric light-duty vehicles. However, research focusing on heavy-duty vehicles is still relatively scarce, and the transition to zero emissions heavy-duty trucks is facing enormous technical and economic challenges. This work investigated GHG emissions during the manufacturing and assembly phase of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs), including battery electric trucks (BETs) and gaseous hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks (FCETs) using SimaPro software package with wildly accepted Ecoinvent database based on UK grid mix scenarios. A comparative analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the production phase of 700 bar- and 350 bar-H₂ FCETs and their battery electric counterparts (eqBETs) was conducted under two UK electricity grid mix scenarios: current and 2050 future electricity grid mixes. The baseline vehicles are 19500 kg H₂ fuel cell electric rigid truck (350 bar H₂) and 37195 kg H₂ fuel cell electric articulated truck (700 bar H₂). In the context of the current UK grid mix, the results indicated that the production of the 19.5 tons 350 bar-H₂ FCET accounted for unit emissions (per ton of vehicle weight) of 4306.09 kg CO_{2_eq}/t, while 700 bar-H₂ FCET (37.195 tons) had emissions of 3868.17 kg CO_{2_eq}/t. By contrast, the 700 bar-eqBET exhibited unit GHG emissions of 7314.98 kg CO_{2_eq}/t, while 350 bar-eqBET showed slightly higher emissions of 7396.06 kg CO_{2_eq}/t. Additionally, the 700 bar-H₂ FCET demonstrated more promising performance in reducing production related GHG emissions compared to other truck scenarios under the future electricity grid mix.