Abstract:

Electric mobility is emerging worldwide to minimize environmental impacts, reduce dependency on petroleum, and diversify energy sources for transportation. Any emerging technology comes with uncertainties regarding its environmental, economic, and social impacts on global society. In the literature, life cycle assessment approaches are mainly used to assess the potential environmental impacts of electric vehicles. Considering the potential impacts of emerging transportation technologies, traditional life cycle assessment is insufficient to analyze economic and social impacts, ripple, side, or rebound effects, macro-economic impacts, and global-supply chain related impacts. In response to these knowledge gaps, traditional environmental life cycle assessment approaches are evolving into new, more integrated, and broader approaches (e.g., life cycle sustainability assessment). This research aims to reveal research gaps in the sustainability assessment of electric vehicles and provide an outlook of the current state of knowledge, perspectives on research gaps, and potential ways to adopt integrated life-cycle modeling approaches. Using the Scopus database, the authors conducted a comprehensive literature review focusing on sustainability assessment studies for emerging electric vehicle technologies between 2009 and 2020. A total of 138 life cycle assessment studies focusing on electric and autonomous (electric) vehicles are analyzed. The reviewed studies are classified and analyzed based on sustainability indicators, life cycle approaches, phases, data sources and regions, vehicle technology, and class. The authors also compared the global warming potential of battery electric vehicles of different class sizes. The literature review identifies five important knowledge gaps: 1) the lack of socioeconomic assessment, 2) the lack of integrated modelling approaches and macro-level assessment, 3) the limited consideration of end-of-life management and circular economy applications, 4) the underrepresentation of developing nations; and 5) the underrepresentation of emerging technologies. The findings of this review can help researchers worldwide to overview the state-of-art and state-of-practice in the sustainability assessment of emerging technologies and electric vehicles.