Economic assessment of hybrid electric vehicles for sustainable transportation and decarbonization in Brazil

Laene Oliveira Soares; José Ricardo Sodré; Luis Hernández-Callejo; Paulo Sérgio Duque de Brito; Ronney Arismel Mancebo Boloy

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2026.140370

Economic assessment of hybrid electric vehicles for sustainable transportation and decarbonization in Brazil

Laene Oliveira Soares
, José Ricardo Sodré
, Luis Hernández-Callejo
, Paulo Sérgio Duque de Brito
, Ronney Arismel Mancebo Boloy^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, demanding the adoption of low-carbon technologies. This study focuses on the economic assessment of two types of hybrid electric vehicles as taxis in Brazil, exploring their potential to ease electric vehicle adoption and contribute to decarbonizing the transportation sector. Environmental life cycle cost, net present value, and total cost of ownership were calculated for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), as taxis and private cars, fuelled by different fuels, in single-fuel and dual-fuel modes. It also compares the Brazilian scenario with Spain and the United Kingdom to examine their economic benefits, considering factors such as purchase costs, operating expenses, and government incentives. Results show that taxis outperform private cars in return on investment, with Spain performing best due to its lower discount rate. Brazil ranked between Spain and the United Kingdom in ELCC and TCO but was the least favourable in NPV. Overall, the research highlights that taxis are identified as a practical short-term alternative for introducing electric vehicles in Brazil, proving to be more economically favourable than private vehicles.

Original language	English
Article number	140370
Number of pages	11
Journal	Energy
Volume	347
Early online date	9 Feb 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2026.140370
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 9 Feb 2026

Bibliographical note

Funding

The authors are very grateful to the financial support, in part, for the scholarship for a Sandwich Doctorate Abroad provided by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), with the project “Economic Feasibility and Eco-Efficiency of Hybrid Electric Vehicles”, through the process n◦ [200,877/2022-4]; for the Research Productivity Scholarship CNPq Level 2, entitled "Industrial Ecopark with Carbon Sequestration working under the concept of Biorefinery and Economy, through the process n◦ [306,976/2021-8]; for the Jovem Cientista do Nosso Estado – JCNE (in Portuguese) Scholarship FAPERJ, entitled “SUSTENTABILIDADE ECON ˆOMICA E AMBIENTAL DE VE´ICULOS EL´ETRICOS H´IBRIDOS” (in Portuguese), through the process n◦ E 26/200.166/2023 (282,055); for the support by national funds through the Fundaç˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia, I.P (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology). by the project UIDB/05064/2020 (VALORIZA – Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorisation); and the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel(CAPES), Finance Code: 001.

Funders	Funder number
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico	306,976/2021-8, 200,877/2022-4
E−26/200.166/2023 (282,055
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia	UIDB/05064/2020

Keywords

Economic assessment
Life cycle cost
Net present value
Total cost of ownership
Hybrid electric vehicle

Access to Document

10.1016/j.energy.2026.140370Licence: CC BY 4.0

L Oliveira Soares et al_Economic assessment of hybrid electric vehicles for sustainable transportation and decarbonization in Brazil
Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 1.55 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "Economic assessment of hybrid electric vehicles for sustainable transportation and decarbonization in Brazil",

abstract = "The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, demanding the adoption of low-carbon technologies. This study focuses on the economic assessment of two types of hybrid electric vehicles as taxis in Brazil, exploring their potential to ease electric vehicle adoption and contribute to decarbonizing the transportation sector. Environmental life cycle cost, net present value, and total cost of ownership were calculated for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), as taxis and private cars, fuelled by different fuels, in single-fuel and dual-fuel modes. It also compares the Brazilian scenario with Spain and the United Kingdom to examine their economic benefits, considering factors such as purchase costs, operating expenses, and government incentives. Results show that taxis outperform private cars in return on investment, with Spain performing best due to its lower discount rate. Brazil ranked between Spain and the United Kingdom in ELCC and TCO but was the least favourable in NPV. Overall, the research highlights that taxis are identified as a practical short-term alternative for introducing electric vehicles in Brazil, proving to be more economically favourable than private vehicles. ",

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AU - Mancebo Boloy, Ronney Arismel

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AB - The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, demanding the adoption of low-carbon technologies. This study focuses on the economic assessment of two types of hybrid electric vehicles as taxis in Brazil, exploring their potential to ease electric vehicle adoption and contribute to decarbonizing the transportation sector. Environmental life cycle cost, net present value, and total cost of ownership were calculated for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), as taxis and private cars, fuelled by different fuels, in single-fuel and dual-fuel modes. It also compares the Brazilian scenario with Spain and the United Kingdom to examine their economic benefits, considering factors such as purchase costs, operating expenses, and government incentives. Results show that taxis outperform private cars in return on investment, with Spain performing best due to its lower discount rate. Brazil ranked between Spain and the United Kingdom in ELCC and TCO but was the least favourable in NPV. Overall, the research highlights that taxis are identified as a practical short-term alternative for introducing electric vehicles in Brazil, proving to be more economically favourable than private vehicles.

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Economic assessment of hybrid electric vehicles for sustainable transportation and decarbonization in Brazil

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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