Life cycle engineering of lightweight structures in vehicles for on-demand mobility services

To reduce transport-related environmental impacts, innovative mobility system approaches such as on-demand services are being developed. These can include operating vehicles that differ regarding their characteristics and application profile from privately owned cars in motorized individual transport. Studies on life cycle assessment and life cycle engineering of vehicle lightweight structures are mainly limited to these privately owned cars and the impact category of climate change. In this paper, a method for life cycle assessment-based engineering of lightweight structures in vehicles for various mobility system applications, including on-demand mobility services, is developed. The method enables the holistic life cycle assessment of lightweight structures in different mobility system applications considering parameter changes at the upstream products, component, subsystem, vehicle and mobility system levels, as well as the integration of results into engineering activities. A case study is used to show that the vehicle and mobility system application of lightweight structures can have significant influence on their environmental impacts and the ecologically favorable product design. The application in vehicles for on-demand mobility services can lead to an increase in absolute use stage energy demand and environmental impacts compared to applications in privately owned vehicles for motorized individual transport. However, normalized to the transport performance provided, the lifecycle environmental impacts of structural components in vehicles for on-demand mobility services can be lower than in vehicle applications for motorized individual transport. The paper contributes methodically and with quantitative results to improved decision making in life cycle engineering activities for lightweight structures in mobility system applications. • Method for LCA based LCE of lightweight structures in on-demand service vehicles • Integrating factor changes at various system levels and diverse impact categories • Mobility system use significantly affects environmental impacts of part designs • Using parts in on-demand vs. private vehicles can raise total environmental impacts • Per passenger-km, the environmental impact of on-demand vehicle parts can be lower