Since launching its first electric car in 2019, the XC40 Recharge, Volvo has published a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report for each fully electric model.
These ensure full transparency regarding a vehicle's carbon footprint under various scenarios and provide customers with information regarding the vehicle's overall impact on the climate.
The recently published C40 Recharge states that “when the vehicle is recharged with electricity produced from clean energy sources, its carbon footprint throughout its life cycle drops to almost 27 tonnes of CO2, against 59 tonnes for a compact XC40 SUV powered by a combustion engine.
On the other hand, when the C40 Recharge is recharged with a conventional energy mix (which is generated at around 60% from fossil fuels), the tonnage of CO2 emitted during the vehicle's life cycle can reach 50 tonnes, which significantly reduces the environmental benefits compared to a traditional car.
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The importance of renewable energy
However, these conclusions should be balanced with another study conducted by Volvo, which explains, for example, that the production of the C40 Recharge emits 70% more CO2 than that of its combustion engine counterpart. The manufacturer imagines three different scenarios to calculate the global CO2 footprint: the first takes into account the average global electricity supply, the second takes into account the EU28 forecasts for renewable and regular energies, and the third takes into account electricity produced in a 100% renewable manner.
With the first scenario, a Volvo C40 Recharge will have to travel 109,918 km before reaching equilibrium with a gasoline XC40, which corresponds to more than half of the theoretical life of the car during which the electric will emit 15 % less than thermal.
The second scenario doubles the overall reduction in emissions (30%) and brings the breakeven point up to 77,248 km.
In the case of the use of renewable energy, the carbon footprint halves and the threshold drops to 48,280 km, which seems much more interesting.
This again reminds us of how many elements must be weighed in order to move towards carbon neutrality.
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