Life cycle assessment study on glove box assembly of Indian passenger vehicles

Abstract

The automotive sector is one of the major greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contributors and it accounts for around 17% of the total GHG emissions across the world. Most of these passenger vehicles in India are sub-4-meter vehicles hence, it becomes important to analyze the environmental impacts of these vehicles. Even though emissions are a major contributor to GHG emissions, the interiors are also one of the major contributors to GHG emissions during the life cycle of a passenger vehicle. The Glove box contributes significantly to the interior consideration. The present study focuses on analyzing the environmental impacts of a glove box with multiple option scenarios using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology in accordance with ISO 14040: 2006. A cradle-to-grave approach was chosen to perform LCA on various design alternatives made of different raw materials (PPTD15, PPTD20, and PPTD25), manufacturing process (hotplate welding, vibration welding, and fastening), latching concept (side and central), and storage concept (rotating bin, fixed bin part of substrate, and fixed bin not part of substrate) of the glove box. The life cycle impacts are analyzed, and it was observed that the fixed bin not part of the substrate has the least environmental impacts with PPTD15 raw material, central latching mechanism, and fastening manufacturing process combination. In addition, this study observed that the use phase is the major contributor to overall impacts, which accounts for around 72–75% of total impacts. It was recommended to use recycled and renewable energy sources during raw material manufacturing and renewable energy as a source of fuel/electricity during the use phase of the glove box to reduce the environmental burden.