Electric machines a more sustainable choice compared to diesel over their life cycle, reports show
By
Heavy Equipment Guide Staff
May 23, 2024
Volvo Construction Equipment is making a catalogue of Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) reports available for customers, providing the ability to take active steps to reduce their environmental impact.
The reports confirm that electric machines are a more sustainable choice compared to conventional diesel machines when looking at greenhouse gas emissions over their entire life cycle.
Volvo is publishing its PCF reports to provide vital data for customers to understand their complete emissions and take action to reduce their own carbon footprint. The PCF methodology is also being shared on Volvo’s company website, showing how the data can be used to drive change. The disclosure is a way in which Volvo CE is working collectively towards global and national climate goals.
The detailed methodology was designed in-house by Volvo CE experts. It analyzes the carbon footprint of every aspect in a product’s life, incorporating both traditional and electric machines across the Volvo portfolio. Extraction of raw materials, component manufacturing, and machine assembly are all considered, as are recycling and end-of-life steps. Principles for the methodology are based in two standards: the global ISO standard for Life Cycle Assessment, and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
A report is available for each product, providing a baseline from which customers can take action to decarbonize. This information is essential to customers as they choose machines for upcoming projects, and for Volvo CE in its drive towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2040. To achieve those results, long-term, stepwise year-to-year actions are required by all stakeholders in the value chain. PCF reports are a tool to both measure progress and make positive decisions.
Volvo CE has made the methodology for its Product Carbon Footprint reports available for other manufacturers to make use of.
Volvo CE
“Customers are now rightly looking with absolute scrutiny at carbon performance – on a par with other considerations like cost and quality. With our Product Carbon Footprint reports, we are making it easier to have quick access to the information needed and enabling them to act on their decarbonization ambitions.,” said Rickard Alm, Head of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) program at Volvo CE. “We are proud to be at the forefront with the most extensive PCF analysis available today in the construction industry to ensure the right choices are made now to deliver on our sustainable transformation.”
The Volvo CE LCA program continues to evolve; for the PCF analysis, this means the number of product reports is continuously expanding, prioritized mainly based on sales volume.
Customers can visit the Volvo CE website and download PCF reports on conventional articulated haulers, wheel loaders, and excavators as well as selected electric offerings like the ECR25 Electric and EC230 Electric excavators.
The reports also indicate that electric machines are a more sustainable choice over their entire life cycle when compared to diesel.
“Depending on the energy mix used to charge the batteries, the emissions from the use phase of an electric machine are reduced by up to 95 percent,” said Alm. “While battery manufacturing results in a higher carbon footprint for electric machines during the production phase, when compared to diesel, overall carbon emissions for an electric machine are still reduced 80 to 90 percent over the entire life cycle.”
The LCA program forms part of a wider sustainability approach by Volvo CE that also includes implementing low-carbon materials and moving to more fossil fuel-free alternative drivelines such as those provided by its commercial lineup of electric machines and charging solutions.
The methodology used to produce the reports can be brand-agnostic and is open for any other OEM to explore and implement. As new legislation is put in place, calculations will be reviewed to ensure accuracy.
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