Life Cycle Thinking Approach Applied to a Novel Micromobility Vehicle

Abstract

Although the production of cars has high environmental costs, producing and maintaining micromobility vehicles might consume fewer resources. Likewise, replacing the car with active mobility transportation modes would reduce noise and air pollution. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology contributes to the study of such environmentally sustainable solutions. We present a “cradle-to-grave” analysis by tracking activity from the extraction of raw materials until the end of the product’s life. The goal was to carry out an LCA of a novel micromobility vehicle, Ghisallo, from a life cycle thinking perspective. The LCA tool, ITF Good to Go? Assessing the Environmental Performance of New Mobility, developed by the International Transport Forum, was used to model the baseline and alternative scenarios. The vehicle’s materials, primary energy sources for battery charging, use of the vehicle as a shared mobility mode, among other factors, were changed to assess energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the life cycle chain. The LCA results of the baseline scenario for Ghisallo were similar to the values of other micromobility vehicles. Energy consumption (MJ) and GHG emissions (grams of equivalent CO2) per vehicle-kilometer (v-km) were 0.36 MJ/v-km and 29 gCO2eq/v-km, respectively. For this personal mobility vehicle, it was concluded that most GHG emissions were from its production (42% of the total). Air transport from the production to sales sites increased its impact by 10%. We present measures to decrease the energy and GHG emissions impacts of a micromobility device’s life cycle.

A Literature Review of Emerging Research Needs for Micromobility—Integration through a Life Cycle Thinking Approach

“…Furthermore, the Ghisallo tricycle, a novel micromobility vehicle, was estimated to have lifetime indicators of 0.36 MJ/v-km and 15.29 gCO 2eq /v-km. For the latter, the production stage is responsible for 42% of GHG emissions and overall, energy consumption and GHG emissions can reduce by 25% and 45%, respectively [54]. Moreover, an LCA conducted by Coelho and Almeida revealed that the production stage of a mountain bike is the most damaging to the environment.…”

“…Even if the three abovementioned suggestions have yet to be considered for achieving the full potential of LCT approaches, all the authors from the latest five cited works ( [49,[53][54][55][56]) advise strategies to reduce environmental impacts. That type of sensitivity analysis looks into the effects of changing the input assumptions for the life cycle pillars.…”

“…From the LCT perspective, studies to perform can be life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), social LCA, and life cycle sustainability assessment (LSCA) [52]. Integrated programs that combine LCA tools with other methodologies have the potential to assist in the evaluation of the urban complexity, particularly larger-scale systems such as mobility-related ones [50][51][52]; • Current analysis of environmental indicators results from LCA must include skepticism, while all the proposals available in a sensitivity analysis of references [49,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59] result in emerging research opportunities to explore and re-evaluate, such as, for instance:…”

Estimation of Postal Service Delivery Time and Energy Cost with E-Scooter by Machine Learning Algorithms

“…The world's megacities are facing significant population growth rates. Today, more than 50% of the world's population lives in cities [1]. The increase in population causes the development and change of the infrastructure of the cities and adverse problems in the city structuring with the pushing of the borders.…”