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The encouragement for the development of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has increased in China, especially after the automotive industry planning in 2009. In general, BEVs are associated with a cleaner and more efficient mobility during operation; however the benefits of substituting BEVs for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) must be evaluated. Vehicle cycle analyses are important tools that provide a comprehensive approach to compare the environmental effects of advanced and conventional vehicles. The goal of this study is to estimate and compare the vehicle cycle energy and emission impacts of a mid-size passenger BEV with a mid-size passenger ICEV in China. It is found that the material production accounts for the majority of the vehicle cycle energy consumption and emissions for the two vehicle types.

Ternary blends of butanol-biodiesel-diesel with different blending ratios were tested inside a constant volume chamber under various ambient temperatures so as to investigate the spray and combustion characteristics of the fuels. Applying the high speed imaging, a sudden drop in spray penetration was observed at ambient temperature of 800 K and 900 K for fuels with certain blending ratio, but not at 1000 K and 1200 K. When the spray penetration of the butanol-biodiesel-diesel blends was compared to that of the biodiesel-diesel blends under non-combusting environment, a sudden drop in spray penetration length was also observed at 1100 K. The results indicated that for the non-combusting case, the tip of the spray jet erupted into a plume sometime after injection for the butanol-biodiesel-diesel blend at an ambient temperature of 1100 K. Such phenomenon was not seen with the biodiesel-diesel blend, neither with the same fuel but at a lower ambient temperature of 900 K.