gÖl.Mobil

According to the Federal Environment Agency's climate protection report (2022), the transport sector is the most important source of greenhouse gas emissions in Austria after energy and industry. Transport accounts for around a third of emissions, and emissions have risen significantly since 1990. There is an acute need for action to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2040.

There are various options for reducing emissions in the transport sector, for example by avoiding journeys, choosing a different mode of transport or substituting fossil fuels. In addition to electromobility, alternative fuels can also be considered for the latter. These are highlighted by some stakeholders as a promising option for decarbonizing the transport sector. Against this background, this project investigated the use of electricity-based, synthetic fuels (e-fuels) for the passenger car segment in comparison to battery-electric mobility. The aim of the project was to compare the greenhouse gas emissions over the life cycle, the efficiency chains and the required energy quantities of different passenger car drive technologies.In order to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions of drive technologies, a meta-analysis of existing life cycle analyses (LCA) was carried out, i.e. study results were researched that cover the entire life cycle of passenger car mobility "from cradle to grave" (cradle-to-grave). In contrast to so-called "well-to-tank" or "well-to-wheel" analyses, the LCA covers all phases of the life cycle and is therefore best suited to comprehensively assess the environmental impact. This is important because the total emissions are distributed unevenly across different phases of the life cycle depending on the technology. In total, over 100 study results, scenarios and calculations were researched and summarized. The analysis shows that the energy used, the battery and the type of vehicle use in particular have an impact on GHG emissions over the life cycle.

Energy efficiency is key to overcoming the climate and energy crisis. With this in mind, we have analyzed the efficiency chains of the three drive technologies BEV, fuel cell vehicle and combustion engine with e-fuels in detail and presented conversion losses. In the analysis, all three technologies are based on renewable electricity, but there are differences in the type of energy storage (battery, hydrogen, e-fuel) and the type of drive (electric motor, fuel cell & electric motor, combustion engine).
 

gÖl.Mobil - Use of green fuels in mobility

Client	BMK
Project management	Lorenz Strimitzer
Projectteam	Christoph Dolna-Gruber Martin Baumann