Life cycle carbon footprint of electric vehicles in different countries: A review

Facing with upward pressure on carbon emissions from the transportation sector, governments actively promote the automation and electrification of the transportation industry, and intelligent electric vehicles (EVs) are ushering in their golden age. However, the debate over whether EVs are lower carbon than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) has never stopped. To objectively evaluate the role of EVs in mitigating climate change and carbon emissions, this study provides an extensive review of the literature on the life cycle carbon footprint of various EVs, and compares the carbon emissions of EVs and ICEVs. Considering that the carbon emissions of EVs vary significantly geographically due to differences in the power mix, ambient temperature, and driving conditions, this review further compares the carbon emission reduction effects of deploying EVs in different countries. The results show that the life cycle carbon footprint of EVs is lower than that of ICEVs, despite the higher carbon emissions from battery production. According to the power generation situation of each country, countries dominated by renewable energy power generation are more suitable for adopting EVs, while in countries with a predominantly coal-fired power generation, the popularization of EVs should be accompanied by a focus on decarbonization of the electricity sector and infrastructure improvements. Overall, improving the production technology of EVs and increasing the proportion of clean energy generation will be helpful to achieve the decarbonization goal in the transportation sector.