Abstract
This study presents a regionally and seasonally resolved life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and gasoline vehicles (GVs) in China, integrating the influence of regional power grid composition and cold-climate effects. Using the ReCiPe 2016 endpoint and IPCC 2021 GWP100 methods implemented in SimaPro with Ecoinvent 3.9.1 data, the analysis quantifies annual and seasonal use-phase emissions across six regional grids. Results show that BEVs emit 25.3% fewer greenhouse gases annually than GVs but cause 2.6 times higher land transformation impacts due to coal-intensive electricity. In Heilongjiang Province, sub-zero conditions reduce BEV charging efficiency to 59% in winter, raising seasonal emissions by up to 70% and lowering the overall GHG advantage to 14.2%. Sensitivity analysis indicates that increasing clean energy penetration reduces human health damage by 15% (DALYs) and resource depletion costs by 91%. The proposed framework uniquely incorporates temperature-dependent performance and regional energy heterogeneity, enabling a more realistic assessment of BEV sustainability under fossil-based and cold-climate conditions. Overall, the findings demonstrate that BEVs consistently outperform GVs in fossil and biogenic emissions but are constrained by land transformation impacts and grid carbon intensity. Achieving genuine zero-emission transport requires coupling BEV promotion with renewable energy expansion and battery efficiency improvements for low-temperature regions.
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Data availability
The LCA modelling was carried out using licensed SimaPro software under Universiti Putra Malaysia’s official institutional license. Due to database licensing restrictions, the raw inventory data cannot be publicly shared. However, processed datasets and summary results generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Conceptualization, M.S.N and H.Z.J.; methodology, M.S.N and H.Z.J.; writing—original draft, M.S.N and H.Z.J.; writing—review & editing, M.S.N and H.Z.J.; funding acquisition, M.S.N and H.Z.J.; resources M.S.N and H.Z.J.; supervision, A.H.S., N.K.M., and N.S.Z.
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Ma, S., He, Z., Sharaai, A.H. et al. Life cycle assessment of electric and gasoline vehicles considering grid differences and cold climate in China. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38471-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38471-1
