SCOPE
Selection of vehicle type
Year, size and powertrain selection
Select the years, powertrain types and size classes you wish to conduct an assessment of.
You may do so by dragging elements with your mouse from the left frame to the right frame.
If you have a car model in mind but do not know its powertrain type or size class, you may look it up in the search field below.
What is what?
If you are unsure about the definitions of powertrains and sizes carculator uses, you may look up a familiar car model below.
Year |
Powertrain |
Size |
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Carculator can model the life cycle impacts of passenger cars at different time horizons, considering expected improvements in vehicles design, energy chains, etc. |
Different powertrains, or propulsion technologies, can be considered. |
Different size categories are available, for any given powertrain type. For reference, a VW Golf corresponds to the Lower medium size class. |
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USE
This section defines parameters concerned with the use phase of the vehicles.
The model needs to know the driving cycle of the vehicles (i.e., the speed level per
second of driving, to derive the needs for acceleration and braking) as well as a
few other things, such as the number of passengers, the country the vehicles are operated in, etc.
Projected electricity mixes are based on Business-as-usual scenarios from energy models.
For European country, the projections originate the 2020 ENTSO-E TYNDP scenario report,
from the European Commission. For African countries, projections originate the model
TEMBA.
For other countries, projections are based on the IEA report World Energy Outlook 2017.
Driving cycleDriving cycles are meant to represent real conditions of use of the vehicle. Carculator uses the driving cycle to obtain the acceleration requirement of the vehicle over time. All the vehicles are compared against the same driving cycle. |
Geographical conditionsThe country of use will influence several important parameters in the life cycle assessment of vehicles. For example, the electricity mix used to charge batteries of electric vehicles or to produce hydrogen through electrolysis will be selected accordingly. |
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Select a driving cycle WLTC
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Select the country where the vehicles should be operated: |
Electricity mixElectricity mixes will determine the carbon intensity of the electricity necessary to operate the car during its Use phase. This may concern, for example, the electricity to charge the battery of an electric vehicle, but also the electricity needed to operate the electrolysis process to produce hydrogen for a fuel cell-powered vehicle. |
PassengersEach passenger has a body mass of 75 kilograms. The average number of passengers per car in Europe is 1.5. The total driving mass is the sum of the total passenger mass, the cargo mass and the curb mass of the vehicle. |
LifetimeThe total mileage of the car is used to normalize life cycle impacts per kilometer driven. The annual mileage is used to differentiate emissions and energy requirement over time, as well as to calculate amortized costs of ownership. |
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Projection models suggest the following electricity mixes for the years selected for the selected country. You may modify them.
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Adjust the number of passengers Adjust the cargo mass 150 kg |
Adjust the total mileage Adjust the yearly mileage |
TANK-TO-WHEEL EFFICIENCY
POWERTRAIN EFFICIENCY
This section allows to adjust the tank-to-wheel efficiency of the vehicles. It represents the fraction of energy provided by the energy storage unit effectively transmitted to the wheels.
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Efficiency rate for |
Energy storage efficiency |
Engine efficiency |
Drivetrain efficiency |
Tank-to-wheel efficiency |
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ENERGY STORAGE AND FUEL PATHWAYS
ENERGY STORAGEIf battery electric or plugin-hybrid vehicles are selected, it is possible to adjust a few parameters about the battery. The user can adjust the battery mass. Note that, by default, sixty percent of the mass is assumed to be taken by the cells. The user can also adjust the energy density of the battery cells. These two parameters defines a new capacity for the battery. Note that a heavier battery will increase the energy consumption of the vehicle. The lifetime of the battery can also be adjusted. If the lifetime is lower than the lifetime of the vehicle, a battery replacement is needed. For example, if the battery is expected to last 150,000 km and the vehicle lifetime is 200,000 km, an additional 0.33 unit of a second battery will be needed. This assumes that the environmental burden of the remaining 0.66 unit of the second battery will be allocated to a second-life application. If you do not like this assumption, you can set the battery lifetime to be exactly half of that of the vehicle lifetime. This way, the environmental burden of the second battery will be entirely allocated to the vehicle. Finally, the user can select the chemistry and the origin of manufacture of the battery. The origin of manufacture will set the type of electricity to manufacture the battery cells. |
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Energy storage for |
Battery mass |
Cell energy density |
Battery capacity |
Battery lifetime |
Chemistry |
Origin |
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FUEL PATHWAYS
In this section, we define the pathway used to supply fuel for the vehicles as well as the technology used for on-board energy storage. |
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Fuel blend for |
Primary fuel |
Blend |
Secondary fuel |
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ELECTRIC UTILITY SHARE
As you have selected a plugin hybrid vehicle, it is important to know the share of the kilometers
that are driven in electric mode (as opposed to combustion mode). The value we provide by default
is from a study that correlates this share to the
range autonomy in electric mode: the higher the range autonomy in electric mode, the higher the share of kilometers driven in electric mode.
This also means that, as the capacity of the battery increases in the future, so does the share driven in electric mode.
But ultimately, this is specific to the behavior of the driver.
We let you modify this value here. |
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Electric utility share for |
Share of kilometers in electric mode vs. combustion mode |
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OTHER CAR PARAMETERS(Optional, click to expand.)
Each car is defined by up to 200 input parameters.
The default values for these parameters are so-called "most likely" values, calibrated against a large number of car manufacturers data.
You are however welcome to override the default value for any of these parameters if you have a specific case in mind
The search field below allows you to do that. Search for a parameter and add it by using the "Add" button in the right column of the search results table.
The importance, or sensitivity, of a given parameter in regard to environmental impacts is indicated in the left column of the search results table.
That is, a parameter with a high sensitivity is a parameter for which a change in its value of 1% leads to a change in environmental impacts by 0.5 to 1%, against
0.3 to 0.5% for a parameter with medium sensitivity, and 0 to 0.3% for a parameter with low sensitivity.
Frequently asked questions (click to see an answer)
- How to change the mass of the battery of an electric vehicle?
- How to change the capacity of the battery of an electric vehicle?
- How to change the efficiency of the engine?
- How to change the weight of the passengers?
- How to change hybridization level of future diesel vehicles?
- How to change the lifetime of a battery?
- How to change the efficiency of a fuel cell stack?
Change the mass of the battery on a electric vehicle
The mass of the battery of an electric vehicle can be changed by modifying the value of the energy battery mass parameter. The mass of the battery is further split into Balance Of Plant (BoP) components mass and battery cells mass. Hence, increasing the mass of the battery will also increase the mass of the battery cells and eventually the energy capacity of the battery. However, increasing the mass of the battery will also increase the driving mass of the vehicle and the energy required to move it over 1 km.
Consider the following relations:
energy battery mass [kg] × battery cell mass share [%] = mass of battery cells [kg]
mass of battery cell [kg] × battery cell energy density [kWh/kg] = energy stored in the battery [kWh]
but also:
curb mass = battery cell mass + battery BoP mass + ...
driving mass = curb mass + cargo mass
tank to wheel energy = ƒ(driving mass, engine power, ...)
Add any parameter you would like to modify.
Importance | Name | Description | Unit | Source | Applies to powertrain | Applies to size | Add? |
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CALCULATION SETTINGS
Linking algorithm |
Functional unit |
Calculation mode |
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A so-called "attributional" linking algorithm will reflect average impacts associated to the life cycle of the vehicle, in proportion of the function unit specified. A "consequential" linking algorithm will instead reflect the marginal impacts associated to the realization of the functional unit specified, departing from a steady-state system. |
The user can opt for a comparison normalized per vehicle-kilometer driven or per passenger-kilometer. " "The user can also choose a specific distance driven. Finally, it is also possible to generate fleet-average vehicles " "if a fleet composition is given.
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A simple calculation will use "most likely" values as model inputs and outputs. This leads to a single "most likely" result. Error propagation calculation, here using the Monte Carlo approach, will consider instead uncertainty around input and output values of the model. This leads to the generation of results represented by probability intervals. |