LEVIS Project D6.2 LCA Results of LEVIS Demonstrators
Creators: name: Teunissen, Floris
name: van Bergen, Esther
name: Decelis, Pablo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024

description: LEVIS is an Innovation Action project focused on developing and applying innovative materials and manufacturing processes (LEVIS technologies) to reduce the weight and environmental impact of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). For this purpose, light-weight materials were implemented in 4 demonstration components of BEVs (namely: Suspension control arm, Battery box, Battery module, and Cross car beam) with the purpose of 20-40% weight reduction and 25% reduction in global warming potential (GWP) for each component. This report is the final deliverable within Task 6.1 of the LEVIS project to determine the environmental performance of the LEVIS technologies. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is used to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of these new LEVIS vehicle components against their benchmark alternatives. 

Investigating the climate change impact of all demonstrators over their lifecycle revealed that while all DEMO solutions reduced component weight compared to the benchmarks, in the Suspension control arm, the total climate change impact increased by 13.7%, primarily because carbon fibre material has a higher environmental footprint per kilogram compared to steel. The other demonstrators had a lower total climate change impact than the benchmark (29%, 66%, and 12% respectively in the Battery box, Battery module, and Cross car beam). Notably, the battery box and battery module showed improvements exceeding 25%, as anticipated in the Grant Agreement. These improvements were mostly achieved during the production phase, thanks to the lower climate change impact of materials and manufacturing processes.

One of the primary goals of the LEVIS project was to reduce component weight to lower energy consumption and, consequently, the use-phase climate change impacts. The LCA results confirmed that this goal was achieved. However, use-phase impacts are influenced by the grid electricity mix and the lifespan of the components. The baseline calculations were based on a 160,000 km lifespan and an EU grid electricity mix. Extending the lifespan changes the results, enhancing the benefits of the demo products compared to the benchmarks. For instance, at lifespans higher than 350,000 km, DEMO 1 also shows improvement over the benchmark. For the grid electricity mix, we examined using electricity from the US or China. It's important to note that changing the electricity source affects the entire lifecycle impacts, not just the use phase. Electricity from the US and Chinese grids have higher carbon emissions, raising emissions for both the benchmarks and demonstrators. However, the increase was greater for the benchmarks, suggesting that manufacturing and using electric cars in China could cause more positive climate change impacts than in the EU.

Before lifecycle assessment activities started, the partners set eco-design objectives for each component using the in-LEVIS developed toolkit iEDGE (integrated Eco-Design Guideline and Evaluator). iEDGE is a comprehensive tool designed to facilitate the integration of eco-design and circular economy principles into the early stages of product design. The iEDGE toolkit was implemented, in collaboration with partners, on different demonstrators to define requirements and KPIs to achieve LEVIS goals. Comparing the results from the LCA against those design objectives set by iEDGE, it can be concluded that iEDGE toolkit has successfully guided the design of four demonstrators by pinpointing key areas for environmental improvement and allowing for the evaluation of different design strategies. These insights highlight the importance of considering all lifecycle phases in ecodesign and lifecycle assessments to achieve sustainable product development. They help steer as well as validate the design criteria decisions in the pursuit of environmental objectives.