In a study conducted by Sphera on the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), research shows that aluminium-optimised designs significantly reduce a vehicle’s environmental footprint.
The report was released and commissioned by the Aluminium Transportation Group (ATG) in response to the expectation that the demand for BEVs will grow in the future.
The research demonstrates the critical role aluminium plays in modern, clean transportation.
The LCA covers the potential environmental impacts from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use and end-of-life stages of the vehicles.
The study highlights the environmental impact of lightweight BEVs by comparing a status quo scenario comprised of other materials to an aluminium-optimised scenario. The aluminium-optimised designs were found to reduce vehicle weight by 9%.
The overall footprint reduction of the BEVs can be attributed to two major factors: reductions in the footprint of battery manufacturing and reductions in the footprint during the vehicle’s use-phase.
Aluminium-optimised vehicles also offer advantages such as reducing the overall GWP100 through vehicle weight reduction that leads to a reduced battery size and fuel efficiency gains.
The full study can be found here.
