A recent lifecycle assessment by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) confirmed that hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) can match battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in greenhouse gas emissions when fueled with hydrogen produced from renewable electricity.
The study compared lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions across all major passenger car powertrains sold in the European Union. FCEVs running on renewable hydrogen achieved an estimated 79% reduction in emissions compared to gasoline vehicles.
The findings also show what's at stake. FCEVs running on natural gas-based hydrogen (still roughly 90% of global production today) produce an estimated 175 g CO2e/km, comparable to a hybrid vehicle. The climate performance of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles depends directly on the decarbonization of the hydrogen supply chain.
Based on the findings, ICCT outlined the following policy considerations:
- The phaseout of new ICEV, HEV, and PHEV registrations by 2035 would align sector emissions with EU climate targets.
- Complementary policies: Decarbonizing all components of passenger cars' life-cycle emissions could be achieved through complementary policies.
- Emissions regulations based on life-cycle emissions could be effective in the long term, but they come with high uncertainties, administrative burdens, and require several years to develop.
- Vehicle life-cycle assessment methodologies should consider the development of the fuel and electricity mix over the vehicles' lifetimes, fuel and electricity consumption values representative of average real-world usage, and the full vehicle lifetime.
One additional finding worth noting: methodological choices (i.e., how you account for lifetime fuel mix, real-world consumption, and vehicle lifespan) significantly affect lifecycle results. Using static or outdated assumptions distorts the comparison.
Hydrogen analysis is no different, and locking lifecycle accounting to today's production mix can undersell the technology's trajectory.
