The environmental impact categories of the Levkart
(2024) MVEK12 20241Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- Abstract
- The start-up company LEVTEK is launching a new ultralight electric utility vehicle called the LEVKART. The Levkart uses a combination of robotics and AI-technology to offer semi-autonomous or autonomous riding and usage. The purpose of the vehicle is to serve as an alternative to cargo bikes and electric scooters designed for easy usage and as a more sustainable option to fossil-based transport. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Levkart’s environmental impact with the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This study analyzes the main environmental impact categories associated with the complete lifecycle of the Levkart using two different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods: the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint and Ecological... (More)
- The start-up company LEVTEK is launching a new ultralight electric utility vehicle called the LEVKART. The Levkart uses a combination of robotics and AI-technology to offer semi-autonomous or autonomous riding and usage. The purpose of the vehicle is to serve as an alternative to cargo bikes and electric scooters designed for easy usage and as a more sustainable option to fossil-based transport. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Levkart’s environmental impact with the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This study analyzes the main environmental impact categories associated with the complete lifecycle of the Levkart using two different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods: the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint and Ecological footprint 3.0 methods. The data used in the impact assessment was collected and analyzed in the Ecoinvent database and the SimaPro 9.5.0 software. Conducting a LCA for a company clarifies where the environmental impact is largest which in turn can contribute to the identification of possible improvements of a product. The results of the LCA proved that the main environmental impact categories of the Levkart were concerning resource use of minerals and metals, toxicity for human health and terrestrial global warming according to ReCiPe and EF methods. The extraction and production phase of the Levkart proved to have the largest environmental impact throughout its lifecycle, with gold as the primary contributor material. Gold is primarily found in the electronic components of the Levkart. A LCA conducted for gold production in China showed that the extraction and production phase of the lifecycle contributed to the most substantial overall environmental impact with the gold ore mining process being the most substantial. While gold has the highest impact score in all methods presented in the study, it only makes up for 0.06 % of the total mass of the Levkart. (Less)
- Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- LEVTEK SWEDEN AB håller på att lansera en ny typ av elektriskt drivet fordon vid namn LEVKARTEN. Produkten ska med sina fyra hjul vara lätt och stabil att köra samtidigt som den erbjuder goda lastmöjligheter både inomhus och utomhus. Fordonet är utrustat med avancerade funktioner som möjliggör ökad säkerhet samt semi-autonom eller autonom körning. Innan Levtek lanserar deras nya produkt, vill de undersöka hur hållbar Levkarten är. Denna studie genomför detta genom att utföra en livscykelanalys (LCA) som täcker produktens hela livscykeln från utvinning av råmaterial till avfallshantering. Levkartens livscykel kan delas upp i fyra faser: utvinning & produktion, användning, transport och avfallshantering. Studien använder två olika metoder... (More)
- LEVTEK SWEDEN AB håller på att lansera en ny typ av elektriskt drivet fordon vid namn LEVKARTEN. Produkten ska med sina fyra hjul vara lätt och stabil att köra samtidigt som den erbjuder goda lastmöjligheter både inomhus och utomhus. Fordonet är utrustat med avancerade funktioner som möjliggör ökad säkerhet samt semi-autonom eller autonom körning. Innan Levtek lanserar deras nya produkt, vill de undersöka hur hållbar Levkarten är. Denna studie genomför detta genom att utföra en livscykelanalys (LCA) som täcker produktens hela livscykeln från utvinning av råmaterial till avfallshantering. Levkartens livscykel kan delas upp i fyra faser: utvinning & produktion, användning, transport och avfallshantering. Studien använder två olika metoder för att utvärdera vilken inverkan fordonet har på miljön, under dess livstid: ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint och Ecological footprint 3.0. Denna studie undersöker vilken typ av miljöpåverkan Levkarten orsakar under dess livscykel, genom att titta på olika kategorier. En stor mängd data samlas in över alla material och komponenter som ingår i produkten, tillsammans med massan för dessa. Insamlingen av data utförs av de två studenter som tillägnats uppgiften från Sustainalink, med stöd från Levtek, handledare och Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE). All insamlade data analyseras med hjälp av databaserna Ecoinvent och SimaPro 0.5.0. Resultaten från analysen visar att den största miljöpåverkan som Levkarten orsakar berör miljöaspekter såsom resursanvändning, specifikt av metaller och mineraler, människors hälsa och global uppvärmning. Vidare, är utvinning och produktionsfasen, den största orsaken till all miljöpåverkan associerad med Levkarten, med ädelmetallen guld som den stora boven. Allt guld som fordonet består av finns i de elektroniska komponenterna, där de ingår i moderkortet, batterikontakter och motorstyrkortet. Trots att guld är den största orsaken till Levkartens miljöpåverkan, så utgör det en oerhört liten del av den totala massan hos produkten, omkring 0.06 % av den totala vikten av fordonet på ca 20 kg. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9166903
- author
- Svensson, Moa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- A life cycle assessment
- course
- MVEK12 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Life cycle assessment, ReCiPe 2016 and Ecological footprint 3.0 impact assessment methods, Ecoinvent, SimaPro, micromobility vehicles.
- language
- English
- id
- 9166903
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-25 14:39:02
- date last changed
- 2024-06-25 14:39:02
@misc{9166903,
abstract = {{The start-up company LEVTEK is launching a new ultralight electric utility vehicle called the LEVKART. The Levkart uses a combination of robotics and AI-technology to offer semi-autonomous or autonomous riding and usage. The purpose of the vehicle is to serve as an alternative to cargo bikes and electric scooters designed for easy usage and as a more sustainable option to fossil-based transport. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Levkart’s environmental impact with the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This study analyzes the main environmental impact categories associated with the complete lifecycle of the Levkart using two different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods: the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint and Ecological footprint 3.0 methods. The data used in the impact assessment was collected and analyzed in the Ecoinvent database and the SimaPro 9.5.0 software. Conducting a LCA for a company clarifies where the environmental impact is largest which in turn can contribute to the identification of possible improvements of a product. The results of the LCA proved that the main environmental impact categories of the Levkart were concerning resource use of minerals and metals, toxicity for human health and terrestrial global warming according to ReCiPe and EF methods. The extraction and production phase of the Levkart proved to have the largest environmental impact throughout its lifecycle, with gold as the primary contributor material. Gold is primarily found in the electronic components of the Levkart. A LCA conducted for gold production in China showed that the extraction and production phase of the lifecycle contributed to the most substantial overall environmental impact with the gold ore mining process being the most substantial. While gold has the highest impact score in all methods presented in the study, it only makes up for 0.06 % of the total mass of the Levkart.}},
author = {{Svensson, Moa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The environmental impact categories of the Levkart}},
year = {{2024}},
}