Fundació Eurecat, Bay Zoltan Research Centre & University of Northumbria at Newcastle

The goal of the ZEvRA project is to explore the opportunities for transitioning the automotive sector toward more sustainable electric vehicle manufacturing. The proposed solutions are planned to be evaluated in terms of sustainability by comparing them to the Business-as-Usual (BaU) scenario, which is one of the main objectives of the project.

As a first step, a Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) assessment was made on the BaU scenario, covering the three pillars of sustainability—environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Environmental aspects are addressed through a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the reference vehicle. This includes a sensitivity analysis focusing on one of the model’s variable parameters: the source of electricity used to charge the vehicle. The economic analysis (LCC) aimed to quantify the total life cycle costs of the vehicle, and also investigated the potential impact of typical usage phase variables on these costs. Social impacts were assessed through a Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) based on the SKODA Enyaq reference scenario, focusing on the most significant social aspects in each life cycle phase. The analysis relied on the PSILCA database, with special attention to individual well-being and social risks.

Conclusions: the life cycle assessment (LCA) of the benchmark vehicle shows that the main environmental impacts—driven largely by polymers, then steel—are climate change, fossil resource use, particulate matter, ionizing radiation, and photochemical ozone formation, with raw material extraction & processing and the use phase being most critical. Electricity use dominates use-phase impacts, so the electricity mix (renewable vs. fossil) and vehicle weight strongly influence total results, making recycling of metals and potentially polymers especially important for reducing burdens.

The Life Cycle Costing (LCC) study of the ŠKODA Enyaq EV over 15 years and 200,000 km (cradle-to-cradle) shows that the total LCC is dominated by manufacturing (≈75%) and followed by use-phase costs (≈25%), while end-of-life costs and revenues are minor. The main cost drivers are raw materials, manufacturing, labour, and administrative activities, so reducing material and production costs can substantially lower total life cycle costs and is consistent with environmental findings. Sensitivity analyses highlight electricity prices, annual mileage, charging behaviour (public vs. private), and discount rates as key factors influencing the EV’s economic sustainability.

The social assessment shows the highest risks in raw material extraction, where issues include human trafficking (e.g. in cotton and copper supply chains), poor health and safety conditions, limited access to clean water and sanitation for local communities, and risks of anti-competitive behaviour, especially in copper production in China and the DRC. Manufacturing and end-of-life phases generally pose low to moderate risks, mainly related to natural disasters, limited sanitation near steel and synthetic rubber facilities, and challenges in promoting social responsibility in plastics, synthetic rubber, and steel value chains in Central Europe. During the use and end-of-life stages, local communities in Central Europe (excluding the Czech Republic) face moderate risks linked to insufficient sanitation coverage, particularly around recycling activities.

All aspects clearly highlight that raw material extraction and processing is the most critical life cycle phase. While ZEvRA project mainly focuses on improving the design and manufacturing stages, these may also indirectly influence earlier stages. To enhance sustainability, it is advisable to improve the efficiency of recovering and utilizing secondary raw materials, based on reliable sources.”