Abstract:

The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, takes 23% of total energy-related carbon emissions globally. More than 53% of primary oil is consumed in the transportation sector to meet 94% of energy needs (93 exajoule). Furthermore, from the perspective of transportation-related goods and services, 8.9% of the total U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016, is responsible for the transportation sector. In order to handle these issues, electric vehicles (EVs) are widely promoted as clean alternatives to conventional vehicles for reducing fossil fuel consumption, GHG emissions and improving energy efficiency from ground transportation. However, there are remaining concerns about the actual techno-economic impacts of EVs due to the complexity in vehicular operation conditions and battery degradation processes. Vehicular operation conditions, such as travel demand and ambient temperature, can substantially affect the vehicle power need within the operation process and further influence their energy consumption and GHG emissions. Meanwhile, the battery within EV undergoes a complex degradation process that is highly sensitive to vehicular operations condition, and the effects of battery degradation on EV techno-economic performance are yet understudied. Therefore, this dissertation developed a systematic life cycle framework incorporating the mathematic physical-based battery degradation model to address the context-dependent electric vehicle techno-economic performance assessment problems, including both the vehicle and battery pack operating processes.