Integrating Prospective LCA in the Development of Automotive Components

Julian Grenz (), Moritz Ostermann (), Karoline Käsewieter, Felipe Cerdas, Thorsten Marten, Christoph Herrmann and Thomas Tröster
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Julian Grenz: BENTELER Business Services GmbH, Residenzstraße 1, 33104 Paderborn, Germany
Moritz Ostermann: Chair of Automotive Lightweight Design (LiA), Institute for Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems (ILH), Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany
Karoline Käsewieter: BENTELER Automobiltechnik GmbH, An der Talle 27-31, 33102 Paderborn, Germany
Felipe Cerdas: Chair of Sustainable Manufacturing & Life Cycle Engineering, Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology (IWF), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19b, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Thorsten Marten: Chair of Automotive Lightweight Design (LiA), Institute for Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems (ILH), Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany
Christoph Herrmann: Chair of Sustainable Manufacturing & Life Cycle Engineering, Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology (IWF), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19b, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Thomas Tröster: Chair of Automotive Lightweight Design (LiA), Institute for Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems (ILH), Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-26

Abstract: The development of automotive components with reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is needed to reduce overall vehicle emissions. Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) supports this by providing holistic information and improvement potentials regarding eco-efficient products. Key factors influencing LCAs of automotive components, such as material production, will change in the future. First approaches for integrating future scenarios for these key factors into LCE already exist, but they only consider a limited number of parameters and scenarios. This work aims to develop a method that can be practically applied in the industry for integrating prospective LCAs (pLCA) into the LCE of automotive components, considering relevant parameters and consistent scenarios. Therefore, pLCA methods are further developed to investigate the influence of future scenarios on the GHG emissions of automotive components. The practical application is demonstrated for a vehicle component with different design options. This paper shows that different development paths of the foreground and background system can shift the ecological optimum of design alternatives. Therefore, future pathways of relevant parameters must be considered comprehensively to reduce GHG emissions of future vehicles. This work contributes to the methodological and practical integration of pLCA into automotive development processes and provides quantitative results.

Keywords: prospective LCA; life cycle engineering (LCE); lightweight design; automotive components; body parts; circular economy; steel; aluminum; hybrid materials; fiber metal laminates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10041-:d:1178769

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