A Novel Scenario Analysis Framework for the Life Cycle Assessment of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for Electric Vehicles

Nowadays, the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies to vehicles and automotive components like electric motors is a cutting-edge research field. The goal of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how electric motors affect the environment and to shed light on the effects of certain assumptions on the LCA results. The LCA methodology was used to assess a wide range of environmental impacts in a cradle-to-use perspective and compare several electric motors designed for passenger cars. First, a baseline motor was identified and assessed. Then, a comparative LCA was conducted based on a novel scenario analysis framework. This framework ensures consistency in location settings, vehicle parameter settings, and scenario considerations so that all the comparisons are conducted on a like-to-like basis. The study examined two alternative scenarios to investigate the effect of geographical boundaries and vehicle applications. The methodological choices, including the specific modelling of environmental impacts, scenario modelling, and dataset selection are transparent and based on existing scientific literature or industrial publicly available data sources. The findings of this study provide indications on the relative life-cycle performance of the different scenarios considered and good evidence on how intended application and geographical factors influence life-cycle performance of electric motors. Moreover, while the use phase resulted as the main driver of the emissions in climate change and use of fossil resources, the other environmental categories resulted in a more balanced contribution between manufacturing and use phases, highlighting the importance of eco-design choices. © 2013 IEEE.