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EVs
Green Electricity Key to Eliminating

Transportation CO 2

By Egil Juliussen

attery electrification of light vehicles is leading the charge to replace Many engine manufacturers now offer
the internal-combustion engine (ICE). Most light-vehicle manufac- fuel-agnostic ICE platforms that can use
diesel, hydrogen or natural gas, with parts
turers have a plan and are well on their way to lowering emissions commonality across the various engine types.
Busing battery electric vehicle (BEV) technology. But what will other This trend is expected to expand to other
key transportation segments—such as heavy vehicles, buses, ships, trains and carbon-neutral fuel variations as their pro-
duction volume increases and prices decline.
airplanes—do? What kind of decarbonization systems will they use? And how is The takeaway for the electronics industry
Europe doing in its efforts to transition to renewable energy for electricity and is that most of these efforts rely on electricity
as a core technology for current and future
cut its CO 2 emissions?
improvements. The resultant growth in gener-
ating, storing, distributing and using electricity
This article posits some answers. The information sources used to to power the transportation and other industries will create increasing
compile it include a 179-page report from DNV, a Norwegian company opportunities for chips, systems and software. Analog chip technology
that provides information services on many transportation and energy will have especially strong long-term growth.
segments. “Energy Transition Outlook 2022: A global and regional fore-
cast to 2050” was published in November and covers energy trends and Carbon-neutral and low-carbon fuels
forecasts for transportation and other major industries (bit.ly/40pcsga). There are multiple fuels that lower emissions compared with oil-based
fuels.
PATHS TO LOWER EMISSIONS Carbon-neutral fuel produces no net greenhouse gas emissions. The
There are essentially two paths to lower emissions in transportation fuel is made using carbon dioxide as a feedstock. By removing CO 2 as
segments: electric vehicles, or ICE vehicles that use low-carbon or part of the carbon-based fuel production, the ICE powertrain usage
carbon-neutral fuel instead of oil-based fuel. creates an equal amount of CO 2 , with the combination counted as
From an emissions perspective, the BEV solution is only as green as carbon-neutral transportation. If the combustion of carbon-neutral
the source of the electricity used to charge the battery. The good news fuel includes carbon capture, it achieves a net-negative CO 2 removal.
is that electricity production is getting greener every year. For the fuel system to be truly carbon-neutral, the energy used for
The second choice exists because the ICE itself is not an inherent fuel production must itself be carbon-neutral and emissions-free. This
source of harmful emissions; rather, it is oil-based fuel that is the requires renewable-energy electricity production.
offender. Internal-combustion engines that burn carbon-neutral or Carbon-neutral fuels are divided into two groups: synthetic fuels
low-carbon fuels are especially useful for transportation segments that (synfuels) and biofuels.
cannot use batteries because of the batteries’ high cost, high weight or • Synfuel is a liquid or, in some cases, a gaseous fuel. It is obtained
limited range. These include heavy trucks, off-road trucks, ocean-going from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which
ships and airplanes. the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks like

IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK

MARCH 2023 | www.eetimes.eu