TranSensus LCA - Developing a harmonised European LCA methodology for zero emission vehicles and batteries
Customer challenge
There is no agreed European or international standard on vehicle life cycle assessment (LCA). Defining a single, harmonised life cycle assessment approach is key to providing transparency and comparability of impacts from these products.
This will help to achieve Green Deal targets, making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy.
Ricardo, with research and industrial partners, is developing a commonly accepted and applied single LCA approach for zero-emission road transport in Europe.
Ricardo solution
Ricardo is a Work Package leader on the core team of the collaborative TranSensus LCA consortium: jointly coordinated by the Fraunhofer LBF and Fraunhofer IST.
The consortium comprises 44 stakeholders from industry and research along the full value chain of zero emission vehicles and batteries including: research institutions, vehicle and battery manufacturers, the supply industry, energy providers and recyclers.
This project, TranSensus LCA, is funded by the EU* and is projected to run until 2025. Consensus will be used to conceptualise a single LCA approach including:
- Harmonisation of methodologies, tools and datasets
- Elaborating an ontology and framework for a European wide LCI database
- Conceptualising LCI data management and update along the life cycle and along the supply chain
Customer benefit
TranSensus LCA will consider the battery value chain, the full vehicle (passenger and commercial vehicles, for the latter including fuel cells technologies) as well as relevant mobility scenarios over the full life cycle (cradle to grave).
Outputs will facilitate industry efforts to reduce vehicle environmental impacts and provide greater comparability of LCA performance for consumers and policymakers.
* This initiative is a Coordination and Support Action supported under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (GA # 101056715) and has also received funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Project website: https://lca4transport.eu/