Circular Economy, Life-cycle assessment, Electrification and Car Transactions (CELECT)

Norway is the world leader in the energy transition of road transport. It is widely agreed that electrification of the car fleet plays a key role in reducing CO2 emissions from road transport, but how should this transformation look like? Should we replace existing diesel and gasoline cars as quickly as possible? How can we make the most of early generation electric vehicles, including their batteries? And how do we ensure that it is not only rich new car buyers who benefit from policies involved in the transition, but also less affluent owners of used cars? In CELECT, we will study how the car market evolves in the era of electrification, with a particular focus on used car transactions and the role of social and geographic inequalities. This will be done using microdata from administrative registers, which allows us to follow the same car through several transactions and consider characteristics of the buyers and sellers of used cars. Environmental footprints of new and used cars will be assessed based on updated knowledge on production and end-of-life handling. This work will proceed in tandem with the development of a circular economy framework, determining which circular economy principles must apply to different vehicle categories in order to maximise sustainability. We will combine the life cycle assessment with a productivity analysis to evaluate optimal utilization of used cars and investigate the effect of current climate policies on the car market and lifetime of existing cars. Finally, we will provide recommendations for policymakers and businesses that can contribute to more sustainable outcomes. CELECT is a cross-disciplinary project, combining econometric analysis of the car market and climate policies with circular economy study and life cycle assessment of environmental impacts. It will be carried out in close co-operation with key actors in the car and battery industry as well as other major stakeholders.

Norway is the world leader in the energy transition of road transport, with a 65 percent market share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) among new passenger cars in 2021. It is widely agreed that a transition to BEVs plays a key role in reducing CO2 emissions from road transport. Still, there is a lack of knowledge on how to achieve an efficient, sustainable, and acceptable transformation of the car fleet, taking into account environmental impacts of production, use and scrapping of cars as well as social inequalities in car ownership and use. In CELECT, we will study how the car market works in the era of electrification, with a particular focus on used car transactions and the role of social and geographic inequalities. We will assess the environmental footprint of new and used cars in a circular economy perspective, and develop a circular economy framework to extend the life and reduce the footprint of BEVs and their batteries. We will combine life cycle assessment and productivity analysis to evaluate optimal utilization of used cars and investigate the effect of current climate policies on the car market and lifetime of existing cars. Finally, we will provide recommendations for policy-makers and businesses that can contribute to more sustainable outcomes. CELECT is a cross-disciplinary project, combining econometric analysis of the car market and climate policies with life cycle assessment of environmental impacts. It will be carried out in close co-operation with key actors in the car industry as well as other major stakeholders. The partners will contribute with data and knowledge about economic and technical parameters that are crucial for evaluating economic and environmental outcomes, collaborate on analysis, and benefit from the new knowledge about sustainable practices and policies that will result from the project. Hence, the project will contribute to environmental sustainability as well as creating new opportunities for value creation.