Life Cycle Cost Assessment of Electric Vehicles: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The transportation sector has been reported as a key contributor to the emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Hence, the need for the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) into the transportation sector. However, the competitiveness of the EVs with the conventional internal combustion engine vehicles has been a bone of contention. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is an important tool that can be employed to determine the competitiveness of a product in its early stage of production. This review examines different published articles on LCCA of EVs using Scopus and Web of Science databases. The time trend of the published articles from 2001 to 2019 was examined. Moreover, the LCC obtained from the different models of EVs were compared. There was a growing interest in research on the LCC of EVs as indicated by the upward increase in the number of published articles. A variation in the LCC of the different EVs studied was observed to depend on several factors. Based on the LCC, EVs were found not yet competitive with conventional internal combustion engine cars due to the high cost of batteries. However, advancement in technologies with incentives could bring down the cost of EV batteries to make it competitive in the future.