Electric power, hydrogen or e-fuel?

Abstract

Electrifi cation of motor vehicles is one of the most discussed and relevant issues of the modern society. Is it really the way to perfection and harmonization of coexistence of human civilization and nature? Should Russia follow the road that Europe is paving? Or do we as usual have our own unique way? Are there any objective prerequisites for sensitive changes for us, Russian citizens, in the energy sector, transport infrastructure and, as a result, in the life of our society? The paper contains a comparative analysis of various vehicle electrifi cation scenarios in Russia and shows that the energy and environmental effi ciency of vehicle electrifi cation considerably depends on the type of electric energy used for electrifi cation. The key goal of the energy transition, which is to limit the greenhouse gases emissions, can be achieved only by means of non-carbon electric power generation. The authors studied 20 variants of electrifi cation of an average passenger vehicle with various electric power generation quality (electric power generating systems’ carbon footprint) and diverse power units – pure electric (BEV), hybrid (HEV and PHEV), fuel cells (FC), with diff erent types of primary power sources, and concluded that, fi rst, the role of hydrogen as vehicle fuel is vastly overestimated; second, it is rather hydrogen derivatives such as e-fuels that have brighter prospects to be used in transport; and, third, besides BEV, the urban niche of which is long and quite reasonably predefi ned, PHEV-type vehicles can be the most effi cient in terms of both customer requirements for the quality of mobility and social requirements for environmental effi ciency of the vehicles on the whole.