Life Cycle CO2 Emissions Assessment on the European Zero-Emission Battery Electric Truck Industry

Life Cycle CO2 Emissions Assessment on the European Zero-Emission Battery Electric Truck Industry

Electric truck adoption is increasing across geographies. An electric truck is a zero-emission vehicle during operation but while charging, the electricity is generated from sources that emit CO2. Similarly, energy-intensive manufacturing processes of Li-Ion batteries add to the CO2 emission trail of a BEV truck. In this research, Frost & Sullivan experts assess a BEV truck's total lifecycle CO2 emissions, starting from the mining and extraction of critical battery minerals to energy-intensive battery production processes to the electric vehicle operation within the United States, up until end-of-life recycling and recovery.

The scope of the study covers the complete lifecycle CO2 emission assessment for a battery electric truck operating in Western Europe across light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty truck segments. The results are compared with a diesel truck to gauge the total CO2 emissions of a diesel truck versus a BEV. The study covers vast subjects such as global resources of critical battery minerals, geopolitical challenges, and the electricity generation mix of countries in Western Europe where the truck is assumed to operate.

In conclusion, the results of the comparison of total lifecycle CO2 emissions put to rest questions on whether the battery electric vehicle emission trail is cleaner than that of a diesel truck. The total CO2 emissions in BEV trucks are lesser than that of diesel trucks across the lifecycle by more than 80%.