Selection and evaluation of alternative fuel vehicles by multi-criteria decision making and cost- benefit analysis

Abstract

The internal combustion engines of vehicles emit lots of pollutants like hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide which can lead to cancer, acid rain, heart disease and global warming. To avoid dangerous climate change, a variety of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation actions must be taken in all sectors of the global energy system. Although diesel and gasoline are still the main energy sources used in urban transportation, alternative and transitional energy sources such as natural gas in alternative forms (CNG/LPG/LNG), compressed hydrogen, Biofuels, hybrid, electric, hydrogen fuel cell have been introduced. Alternative energy vehicles are cost-inefficient, less pollutant when compared to fossil-fuel based ones but involve some risk and health hazards if they are not handled properly. In this study,all hazards and potential risks associated with the alternative fuel vehicles such as CNG, LPG, Hybrid and the electric vehicles have been identified and assessed by physical investigation of the vehicles, CNG/LPG conversion workshops and the re-fueling stations for storing and dispensing the pressurized fuels. Selection of alternative fueled vehicles specially in highly polluted city like Dhaka in the developing country is a complex decision task, it is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. Various technical, economic, environmental, safety issues and policy factors must be considered for the successful application of MCDM. In order to find out the best fueled vehicle in the context of Bangladesh, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) which is one the most used MCDM method has been applied by interviewing the experts of academic institutions, research institutions, vehicle manufacturing or importing organizations, decision makers of government organizations etc. Findings of the study reveals that the electric vehicles (EV) are the least hazardous vehicle and the experts’ panel has expressed their opinion for the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) in the AHP analysis. But the outcome of cost-benefit analysis shows that the hybrid vehicle is the most suitable vehicle at the moment in the context of Bangladesh as the infrastructure for recharging the batteries of EV is not ready yet.