Environmental performance of an electric vehicle composed of 47% polymers and polymer composites

Abstract Polymer and polymer composites can improve the fuel economy of vehicles by lightweighting and providing design flexibility. While the automobile's polymer content is increasing over the years, the environmental impact assessment of polymer contribution is limited to non-structural parts replacement and scenario analysis on a hypothetical automobile. This paper presents a life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of an actual electric vehicle made of 47% polymers and polymer composites to clarify the extent of the environmental contribution of polymers for automotive applications. The contribution of each polymer part to the driving performance was examined by physical models with powertrain resizing. The results found that the life cycle GHG is decisively influenced by the fabrication of reinforced plastics and the powertrain resizing enabled by lightweighting. This study conveys that extensive polymer introduction alone is unlikely to reduce the life cycle GHG emissions of an electric vehicle.