Navigating through Holistic and Integrated LCSA of passenger cars with different power supply: Methodological limitations and research needs

The Holistic and Integrated Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (HILCSA v2.1) methodology was tested to evaluate and compare the sustainability performance of three B-segment passenger cars operated in Italy: a conventional petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), a partially renewable-blend-fuelled ICEV (60 % liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/20 % bio-LPG/20 % bio-dimethyl ether (DME)), and a battery electric vehicle (BEV). The assessment integrated environmental, economic, and social dimensions across the full life cycle, using 81 indicators linked to 14 Sustainable Development Goals. Results show that, relative to the petrol ICEV, the blend-fuelled ICEV and BEV exhibit reduced aggregated environmental impacts (-6 % and -2 %, respectively), particularly for climate change and fossil resource depletion. However, both alternatives entail burden shifts to social and economic spheres, with the blend-fuelled ICEV increasing overall impacts by 8 % and the BEV by 30 %. Most of these increases stem from car manufacturing and energy carrier production. This case study was useful to reveal several limitations that can lessen the robustness of the results, among which are the old version of the background database supporting HILCSA and the site- and field-specific weighting factors. Given the relative novelty of the LCSA field, it is recommended to perform other comparisons between ICEVs and BEVs that will benefit from future updates and improvements of soca v2 database and HILCSA v2.1 methodology.