Evaluation of eco-efficient car lifecycles

Title data

Maruschke, Julian ; Rosemann, Bernd ; Steinhilper, Rolf:
Evaluation of eco-efficient car lifecycles.
In: University of Zurich (ETH) (ed.): Conference Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Life Cycle Management, LCM 2007. - Zürich , 2007

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Abstract in another language

In order to minimize both economic and ecological resource consumption during car lifecycles, two basic
approaches exist. The first approach is to design a car for a longer than usual lifecycle and to use it for up to 20
years rather than the average car lifetime in today's markets. The second approach is to replace a car as early as
its successor is available on the market, offering significant technological innovation and an option to benefit
from better economical and ecological performance.
The first approach roots back to first studies presented in the 1970s ([1], [2]) and aims at slowing down material
cycles. In contrast, the second approach aims at minimizing overall resource consumption taking advantage of
accelerated material development cycles and benefits from technological advances such as lightweight designs,
hybrid power trains or even hydrogen power trains.
In practice, the most eco-efficient strategy will be an intelligent combination of the two approaches. Looking for
example at a 35 years period, where 5 subsequent car models with a production period of 7 years each are
offered to the market, at some stages it will be more efficient to keep the previous model longer and at some
stages scrapping an old car and using a car of best available technology may offer less environmental impacts
than using the old car furthermore.
This paper presents a new evaluation model that offers a lifecycle assessment that combines both ecological and
economic considerations and provides an insight into system behaviour and interaction of parameters such as
future technological innovations and changes to legal requirements.