On October 6, Swedish life cycle experts in the vehicle field gathered to discuss and exchange knowledge from the industry and research area. The ambition was high, the atmosphere was creative and the air was filled with statements and questions that enriched the discussions.

LCA for vehicles started as a working group in the beginning of 2017 together with The Swedish Energy Agency and The Swedish Transport Administration. The agencies had identified some gaps in the existing guidelines and research of electrified vehicles and asked Swedish Life Cycle Center to gather a group from their network and beyond. For once the center extended the working group to contain both partners (Volvo Cars, IVL, Chalmers, KTH, AB Volvo, RISE, Swedish EPA, Swedish transport administration, Swedish Energy Agency, Vattenfall) and external actors (NTNU, NEVS, Scania, Stenametall).

The long-term purposes of the group is to develop a common methodology and share experiences between different stakeholders in the process to move the life cycle field within vehicles forward. Both on industry level as for research and policy making.

On the full day in October the group was gathered to discuss:

What is going on within electrification of vehicles today?

What is lacking today & where should we focus our research? 

Speakers from Volvo Cars, Chalmers, RISE, KTH, NTNU and Swedish Energy agency presented their ongoing work within batteries, recycling, research projects, the future of LCA studies and more. The afternoon’s workshop generated several improvement areas to focus on within the group, for instance data, standards, next life, infrastructure, valuation of resources, new user patterns, LCA in early stages, new materials, policy, development and LCA in the design process.

Next step is to prioritize and take actions on selected areas. We are looking forward to the outcome of the group!

The organizers of the day Anna Widerberg (Volvo Cars & Chair of the group LCA for vehicles) and Patrik Klintbom (RISE & co chair of the group) are more than satisfied with their achievement! Maybe the first big step in order to develop the LCA of vehicles in the Nordic.

Get more information from the group here (for partners only)