Automobiles enable individual mobility and are important means of transport in many countries. They are not only an import part of a modern life style, they also come with cost and environmental impact as well as social consequences on a regional and a global level. At the same time the automotive industry faces diverse challenges, e.g. changes in global markets, demand for individualized vehicles, and strict environmental regulations. These impacts and challenges have to be considered in the development and production of automobiles. However, the evaluation of impacts and the optimization of product characteristics are no easy tasks since there are various interdependencies and goal conflicts between different solutions. What is required is an analysis of all impacts in all life cycle phases in order to avoid problem shifting. This paper presents a discussion of the aforementioned issues and the necessity of a holistic analysis for the example of electric power trains and lightweight design. Both technologies aim at the reduction of fuel consumption in the use phase but lead to higher ecological impacts in manufacturing due to the use of materials with high embodied energy. These impacts will be explained in detail before the interdependencies and influences of both technologies are discussed.
Automotive Life Cycle Engineering
2014
9 Seiten, Bilder, 49 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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