Life-cycle analysis of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles

Life-cycle analysis of a charging station for electric vehicles (EVs) was performed in the three phases, that is, production, transportation and installation of the charging equipment, which consists of charger, battery and stand. We chose parking lots on expressways, commercial parking lots in cities, municipal facilities, shopping centers, etc. throughout the country as the charging sites according to the EV charge program in Southern California. Air-pollutant emissions during the transportation phase were calculated based on the emission factors of vehicles, running speed and the transport distance between one factory of the charging equipment and each site. The share of transporting the charging machines in total emissions of CO2, SOx and CO was less than 15% and the production phase was dominant. In case of NOx, the share of transporting them was over 20%. The relation between gasoline vehicle and gas station was applied to estimate the number of EVs using the charging stations through the country, and the contribution of the charging stations to life-cycle emissions of air pollutants from EV was presented. The share of infrastructure in total emissions of CO2 was 16% in our model case. Thus the development of the charging infrastructure almost did not change the advantage of EV compared to gasoline vehicle (GV) in terms of CO2, NOx, and CO emissions. But an EV emits more life-cycle SOx than gasoline vehicles (GVs).