Ahead of EU regulation: assessing vehicles’ total lifecycle emissions

Back in 2023, the European Commission introduced its Fit for 55 package, with the goal to reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

Among the proposed measures was the aim to develop a standardised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to assess the full environmental impact of vehicles throughout their entire lifespan.

Such a life cycle assessment aims to measure the emissions involved in every phase of a vehicle’s life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials and the energy used in manufacturing, to the emissions produced while driving, and finally, the disposal and recycling of components at the end of its life. 

The European Commission aimed to present a unified LCA methodology and translate it into regulation by 2025.

In June of this year, a step in that direction was made with the EU-funded TranSensus LCA project publishing a set of harmonised LCA guidelines specifically for zero-emission vehicles.

The commission is now working on developing a regulatory methodology to assess LCA across the EU.

With the launch of their new website on Thursday (18 September), Green NCAP are taking the lead, moving ahead of regulation, by introducing a comprehensive LCA methodology which estimates emissions of combustion engine vehicles and electric vehicles ‘from cradle to grave’, and allows consumers to evaluate a vehicle’s true impact on the environment in three assessment categories.

Adding LCA to exhaust emissions

Green NCAP awards a star rating to each car which reflects its overall sustainability, going from one star for the worst performers to five stars for the greenest vehicles. This sustainability rating comprises three indices, each individually scored out of 10: the Clean Air Index, the Greenhouse Gas Index, and the Energy Efficiency Index.

The Clean Air Index analyses the most important pollutants emitted during a vehicle’s different life cycle phases, while the Greenhouse Gas Index measures the emissions of specific greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) during those phases.

Starting with the operational phase, Green NCAP measures the gases emitted from a vehicle’s tailpipe when it is being driven. Of course, an electric vehicle (EV) does not have any exhaust emissions and will therefore achieve full marks in this phase.

For a combustion engine vehicle, however, its exhaust emissions are evaluated using a wide variety of different tests, ranging from warm and cold weather tests in a laboratory, to a short city trip simulation and a congestion simulation on the road. For each of these parameters the vehicle receives a score out of 10, which in turn make up the vehicle’s total ‘exhaust emissions’ score out of 10.

This is familiar territory for Green NCAP who have been measuring tailpipe emissions since their creation in 2019. “We have always measured exhaust emissions,” Green NCAP’s Alex Damyanov says, “the difference is that we are now introducing a holistic approach with the full Life Cycle Assessment.”

To complete the evaluation of pollutants emitted during a car’s operational phase, beyond those released through the exhaust pipe, Green NCAP also looks at vehicle properties that influence brake and tyre abrasion, which release polluting particles on roads and in the air.

The difficulty with the emissions of the other life cycle phases, however, is that they cannot be measured in a lab-like exhaust emissions. “We cannot measure them, we can only estimate them,” Damyanov explains, “we are essentially using a science of estimations based on data-collections and databases available to us.”

This ‘science of estimations’ is the LCA methodology which Green NCAP uses to make calculated estimations of the pollutants that have been (or will be) emitted in the various stages of a vehicle’s life other than the operational phase. 

Certainly for electric vehicles, LCA reveals crucial information regarding their environmental footprint.

An electric car’s emissions on the road might be zero, but its contribution to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere happens well before it is ever driven. As is the case for combustion engine vehicles of course, albeit to a lesser extent.

In addition, Green NCAP also considers the emissions originating from the processes related to the supply of the propulsion energy — factoring in, for instance, the emissions coming from the factories and powerplants producing fuels or electricity.

Not every electric vehicle is the same

The new and improved Energy Efficiency Index calculates a vehicle’s total energy consumption, starting with the energy it uses locally while driving, and supplemented with data from the other life cycle phases.

“Once again, we see that in production, recycling and maintenance, there are also other things that use energy — considerable amounts of energy,” Damyanov points out.

A vehicle’s energy consumption over its whole life cycle can vary significantly from model to model, depending on factors such as efficiency, weight, and battery capacity. Larger, heavier cars with bigger batteries typically demand more energy across their lifetime, while smaller, lighter models tend to be far more energy efficient.

A big 2.5 tonnes 7-seater electric SUV, for instance, will use a lot of energy in its operational phase, as well as in its production phase. “This type of electric SUV will have the most energy-intensive production phase of any car in Europe,” Damyanov says, “such a big car needs a big heavy battery, which can weigh significantly more than half a tonne, and in order to compensate for that additional weight of the battery, it can be necessary to put even more aluminium and other lightweight materials in the chassis, in the glider, and these increase the greenhouse gas bill. So mass just makes it worse and worse.” 

He continues by putting this into perspective: “Combustion engine vehicles have the advantage that there is no battery to be produced. However, the benefits of EVs in the usage phase can outweigh the small drawback in production by far. And as the electricity mix is becoming continuously greener, the picture will become even more favourable for EVs.”

Driving experience

With the new website also comes a new assessment.

The Driving Experience evaluation introduces a wide array of different parameters which influence how user-friendly a vehicle is. “This comes as an addition in 2025, it is something new that we are showing because we learnt that it is of high importance for consumers. But we don’t want it to take the stage, the stage is for sustainability,” Damyanov states.  

A vehicle can be very green and sustainable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will become a common sight on the road. Consumer choice often comes down to practicality in everyday life — and if a car charges too slowly or offers too little driving range, people might refrain from buying it.

“There are a lot of prejudices against electric vehicles — and we wanted to target exactly these,” Damyanov explains, “because we can reliably measure this and we can make a comparative analysis with different vehicles. Consequently, people can see whether this vehicle is something for them or not. And manufacturers can compete with each other in improving those aspects.”

Green NCAP gives accurate estimations of a vehicle’s real-world energy consumption in different scenarios, driving on a highway, in an urban area, or a rural area, and under different weather conditions. 

“Our estimations here are addressing the gap between the official figure given by the manufacturer and the figure that you experience in real life. We believe that this is a very important point, so that people have confidence and don’t fear receiving inaccurate information from manufacturers,” Damyanov says.

Parameters like accuracy of display, cabin heating performance and cabin insulation are estimated and evaluated here too.

Level playing field

Green NCAP’s new website will function as a tool for consumers, for fleet managers, sustainability experts and environmental engineers to have complete information on a vehicle’s impact on the environment.

The full life cycle assessment of a car’s emissions reveals valuable information on how green EVs really are, and crucially, it offers a level playing field for all vehicles, electric or combustion, to be compared and evaluated on their overall sustainability and environmental footprint.