New report focuses on CO2 emissions and environmental damage cost assessment in LCA of a distribution truck

In a new report written for f3 by Per Hanarp and Mia Romare, Volvo Group, a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a distribution truck for urban applications, with either a diesel or otto engine using different fossil and bio-based fuels is presented. Impact of electrification is also briefly discussed.

The impact assessment is carried out with both CO₂ equivalent emissions and envi­ronmental damage cost assessment using the Environmental Priority Strategy methodology (EPS), to provide impact on different perspectives and times when it comes to sustainability evaluation. This somewhat broader perspective, compared to conventional well-to-wheel analyses, can give better understanding of different environmental risks in technology development choices. Providing an in-depth analysis in the comparison of the fuel and powertrains, the results of the assessment is also interpreted in terms of an f3 focus.

The project is titled Comparison of diesel and gas distribution trucks – a life cycle assessment case study, and the data used in the study is obtained from a life cycle assessment (LCA) performed for the research project “Utveckling av metodik att kommunicera miljöskadekostnadsdata”, financed by the Swedish Energy Agency and including  participants IVL, Chalmers, AkzoNobel, SCA Hygiene and Volvo Group.