Total CO2-equivalent life-cycle emissions from commercially available passenger cars

The international passenger car market is undergoing a transition from vehicles with internal combustion engines to hybrid and fully electrified vehicles to reduce the climate impact of the transportation sector. To emphasize the importance of this needed change, this paper provides holistic comparisons of the total life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by a wide selection of commercially available passenger cars with different powertrains and energy sources. Simple analytical models are used to quantify the total life-cycle GHG emissions in terms of CO2-equivalent values relative to the vehicle curb weight and the peak motor power. The production, utilization and recycling emissions are…