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A new life cycle analysis shows that electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles significantly reduce lifetime greenhouse gas emissions compared with diesel vehicles. So much so that if a medium- or heavy-duty battery electric vehicle were powered completely by renewable energy, there would be around a 90% reduction in lifetime emissions compared with the diesel equivalent.

The research team was led by Maxwell Woody and Greg Keoleian of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS). SEAS doctoral student Spencer Checkoway also contributed to the research, as did Robert De Kleine, Hyung Chul Kim and James Anderson at Ford Motor Co.

“There’s an urgency for climate action and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector,” said Keoleian, a professor at SEAS and co-director of CSS. “There’s a disproportionate amount of emissions from these heavy- and medium-duty vehicles compared to the rest of the vehicles on the road.”

Study: Batteries vs Fuel Cells for Decarbonizing Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles Across Applications (DOI: 10.1038/s41560-026-02095-6)

Read the full press release on the Michigan News website.