Carculator : Configuration

SCOPE

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

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.

Choice	Selection
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040 2041 2042 2043 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 2049 2050

Choice	Selection
Petrol Diesel CNG Electric Fuel cell Hybrid-petrol Hybrid-diesel (Plugin) Hybrid-petrol (Plugin) Hybrid-diesel

Choice	Selection
Micro Minicompact Subcompact Compact Mid-size SUV (Mid-size) Large SUV (Large) Van

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 cycle Driving 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 conditions The 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.
Select a driving cycle WLTC WLTC WLTC 3.1 WLTC 3.2 WLTC 3.3 WLTC 3.4 CADC Urban CADC Road CADC Motorway CADC Motorway 130 CADC NEDC	Select the country where the vehicles should be operated:

Electricity mix

Electricity 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.

Passengers

Each 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.

Lifetime

The 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.

Projection models suggest the following electricity mixes for the years selected for the selected country. You may modify them.

in %
Hydro
Nuclear
Gas
Solar
Wind
Biomass
Coal
Oil
Geothermal
Waste
Biogas with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Biomass with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Coal with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Natural gas with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Wood with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Hydro (reservoir)
Gas (combined cycle)
Gas (CHP)
Solar (thermal)
Wind (offshore)
Lignite

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. The energy storage efficiency for battery electric cars corresponds to the battery discharge efficiency. The energy storage efficiency for fuel cell cars corresponds to the fuel cell system efficiency.
Efficiency rate for	Energy storage efficiency	Engine efficiency	Drivetrain efficiency	Tank-to-wheel efficiency

ENERGY STORAGE AND FUEL PATHWAYS

Energy storage for	Battery mass	Cell energy density	Battery capacity	Battery lifetime	Chemistry	Origin
ENERGY STORAGE If 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.

Fuel blend for	Primary fuel	Blend	Secondary fuel
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. The user can select conventional pathways to represent the supply and use of common fuels such as diesel or unleaded petrol or compressed natural gas, but also alternative fuels, such as bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and bio-methane. The alternative fuels presented here are so-called "2nd generation" fuels, as they are produced from residual plant-based material. This means that they do not compete with crops production with the purpose of food supply. Additionally, several pathways are presented for the supply of hydrogen to be used in fuel cell cars. Hydrogen can either be produced by electrolysis, which is a process that requires electricity, or via a process called "Steam Methane Reforming" which uses steam and methane to produce hydrogen. Regarding energy storage technologies for battery electric vehicles, the user can choose between several types of lithium-ion-based chemistry but also between different origins of manufacture. The origin of battery manufacture will determine the electricity mix used to produce the battery cells. The fuel blend shares presented by default originate different projection models. They can be modified at will. It is to note however that the shre of alternative fuel in the fuel blend an engine can operate on, can be, in practice, limited for technical reasons.

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.
Electric utility share for	Share of kilometers in electric mode vs. combustion mode

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)

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?

CALCULATION SETTINGS

Linking algorithm

Functional unit

Calculation mode

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.

Attributional

Consequential

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.

Quantity	1
Over		km

Fleet

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.

Simple calculation

Error propagation (Monte Carlo)

SCOPE

Selection of vehicle type

Year, size and powertrain selection

What is what?

Year

Powertrain

Size

USE

Driving cycle

Geographical conditions

Electricity mix

Passengers

Lifetime

TANK-TO-WHEEL EFFICIENCY

POWERTRAIN EFFICIENCY

Efficiency rate for

Energy storage efficiency

Engine efficiency

Drivetrain efficiency

Tank-to-wheel efficiency

ENERGY STORAGE AND FUEL PATHWAYS

ENERGY STORAGE

Energy storage for

Battery mass

Cell energy density

Battery capacity

Battery lifetime

Chemistry

Origin

FUEL PATHWAYS

Fuel blend for

Primary fuel

Blend

Secondary fuel

ELECTRIC UTILITY SHARE

Electric utility share for

Share of kilometers in electric mode vs. combustion mode