Amy Le Professor Chad Wilson ENGI 2304 4 January 2023 Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the purchase price, fuel efficiencies and amounts of resource extraction emissions of hydrogen and electric vehicles to help consumers decide which type of vehicle is best to purchase. Problem As the world population continues to grow, the transportation market is expanding and the need for innovation within that market is crucial. Concerns over climate change are rampant as ever as ‘January to November was characterized by much-warmer-than-average conditions across much of North America, eastern South America, Europe, and Asia’ [1]. Mitigating these effects in terms of transportation is a prominent topic with ‘air pollution generated by motor vehicles being estimated to cause an additional 53,000 premature deaths every year’[2]. With concerns of climate change and pollution, it’s of great importance to investigate alternative energy sources for our transportation as we strive to become a more environmentally friendly society. Electric and hydrogen vehicles have been adopted to help combat these issues. Background Extraction of Resources Electric vehicles are commonly powered by lithium-ion batteries which require the mining of lithium and cobalt to produce them. These resources are mainly extracted from hard rock mines and underground reservoirs [3]. Additionally, lithium mining is quite resource-intensive as it requires ‘chemicals and enormous amounts of water- frequently from areas where water is scarce’ and ‘much of the energy used to extract and process it comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels’ [3]. Though hydrogen is an abundant resource, it needs to be extracted from other compounds to become a usable fuel. The most common extraction method for hydrogen occurs through natural gas reformation in which the methane from natural gas is put through a series of thermal processes to yield hydrogen and other carbon byproducts [5]. Despite the usage of natural gas, greenhouse emissions from producing these vehicles are substantially less than that of a typical vehicle with emissions being reduced by half. How Electric Vehicles Work Amy Le Professor Chad Wilson ENGI 2304 4 January 2023 Figure 1: Parts of an EV [4] EVs produce electricity using a lithium-ion battery. Because the vehicle is powered by a battery, it produces no tailpipe emissions. The vehicle contains a charging port and must be charged to restore the battery. The figure above lists out the following components: DC/DC converter, electric traction motor, onboard charger, power electronics controller, thermal system, traction battery pack and transmission. These components aid in the functioning of the vehicle and allows for the power generated to be properly utilized. For example, the thermal system of the vehicle aids in keeping other components within a functioning temperature range. How Hydrogen cars work Figure 2: Parts of a Hydrogen EV [7] Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) produce electricity using fuel cells. These cells operate similar to that of a battery and contain separate components which hold hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The atoms react with each other through an electrochemical cell to produce energy and water [6]. Like, the EVs, these vehicles produce no harmful tailpipe emissions and only release water vapor and warm air [6]. Because the fuel cells require hydrogen, the fuel tanks of these vehicles need to be periodically filled with hydrogen to operate. The components of this vehicle are listed in the figure above and also include: Fuel Cell stack, electric traction motor, DC/DC converter, thermal system, transmission and power electronic controller. These components aid in the functioning of the vehicle Amy Le Professor Chad Wilson ENGI 2304 4 January 2023 and allows for the power generated to be properly utilized. For example, the transmission provides mechanical power to move the wheels. Scope This report will only be comparing the purchase prices, fuel efficiencies and amounts of resource extraction emissions of EVs and hydrogen FCEVs. Sources 1.) https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202211 2.) https://mronline.org/2022/10/16/vehicles-of-extraction/ 3.) https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-much-co2-emitted-manufacturingbatteries#:~:text=Currently%2C%20most%20lithium%20is%20extracted,are%20emitted%20into %20the%20air. 4.) https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/how-do-all-electric-cars-work 5.) https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-natural-gas-reforming 6.) https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicles 7.) https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/how-do-fuel-cell-electric-cars-work
