Measuring the true cost of building new cars

Mark Stanton, group chief engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, explains the benefits of assessing the environmental impact of new vehicles from cradle to grave

At Jaguar Land Rover we’re proud to be at the forefront of automotive companies in terms of carrying out environmental lifecycle assessments of the cars we make.

We started with a lifecycle assessment (LCA) of the next-generation XJ in 2009 and now include the methodology for all major new models, including the recently launched Range Rover Evoque. The LCA assessments fit into our adoption of wider standards such as ISO 14001, which have an impact on the entire organisation. 

There’s been so much focus on reducing tailpipe CO₂ emissions from cars that other lifecycle aspects, including design, production and disposal, have arguably been neglected. The LCA allows us to look at these factors when considering the environmental impact of a new model. 

As you reduce tailpipe emissions, the proportion that they contribute to the overall environmental impact of the vehicle actually shrinks – and so the emissions you produce when you manufacture the vehicle become significantly more important. 

Look at an electric vehicle, for example: the tailpipe emissions are zero but there are emissions elsewhere that you generate, so you need to start looking at the whole lifecycle. You need to make sure you are making the right design and engineering decisions based on that.

We’re using more and more aluminium in our car bodies, and that reduces weight, which cuts down on tailpipe emissions of CO₂. But producing and processing aluminium is energy intensive. 

Looking at a full lifecycle assessment enables you to understand what the trade-offs should be and the resulting benefits. It can be necessary to introduce other energy-saving elements to the production process so that the tailpipe improvements are not in vain. By introducing recycled materials, for example, you can cut back on energy used in vehicle manufacture. This was the case with the Evoque, where we used 100% recycled polyester made from bottles and other waste in the vehicle’s headlining. That meant an energy saving of 66%. 

It hasn’t been too difficult to get our engineers to think about the full life of the vehicle in this way. We have dedicated teams and it’s their job. But engineers working on every aspect of new models are becoming involved. They have a lot to consider – a multitude of targets to meet in terms of cost, weight and function. So LCA throws something else at them. 

But what we’ve discovered is that they often find there are win-win scenarios if they also bear in mind environmental impact. Using recycled materials can also save money, for example. LCA can also help you to keep one step ahead of legislation. Engineering a toxic material out of a product at the design stage, before it becomes subject to controls under Reach, can save the time and trouble of re-engineering later. 

We know that consumers are interested in these things and that they will increasingly become part of the purchasing decisions they make. The interesting thing will be to see what our competitors start to do, and whether it will become mandatory to have a set of numbers or published figures that reflect LCA – in the same way that we have to publish CO₂ tailpipe figures today.

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