Lifecycle Assessment and Prediction of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Vehicles for 2020

Currently, fuel cell vehicles have attracted the attention of China and even the world, which perhaps will become the commanding point of technical competition in the automotive industry. By modeling with GaBi software, the prediction and quantitative analysis are made on lifecycle energy-saving and emission reduction for fuel cell vehicles in China in 2020 based on the 2020 target of China and the US Department of Energy 2020 plan. Finally, sensitivity analysis was conducted for selected key factors. The result shows that the total resource depletion, energy consumption, and environmental impact for fuel cell vehicles of China in its complete life cycle were 0.354 kg Sb-Eq., 7.38 x 105 MJ and 4.48 x 104 kg CO2 eq. In 2020, the impact of the power generation on the environment will decrease as the proportion of thermal power generation in the power structure declines, and it will provide a possibility for large-scale electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen.