University of Erlangen Confirms Vitesco Technologies’ Pioneering Role in Automating Life Cycle Assessments

To optimize the ecological footprint of its products and, in the long term, design them to be CO₂-neutral throughout their entire life cycle, Vitesco Technologies, a leading supplier of advanced drive technologies and electrification solutions, is intensively looking into the so-called Life Cycle Engineering (LCE).

Life cycle engineering (LCE) means that when designing and developing a product, the ecological footprint of the entire value chain is taken into account – from the extraction of raw materials for supplied parts, through their production and transport, to the use of the finished product and its recycling at the end of its life – to optimize these aspects using scientific methods.

“As a provider “f climate-friendly mobility solutions, we are committed to meeting high standards in terms of sustainability,” explains Anja “Rivera de la Cruz, head of Sustainability at Vitesco Technologies: “Our business m “del is based on the understanding that we are significantly reducing vehicle CO₂ emissions with our products. Our goal is to make our production operations 100 per cent neutral by 2030 and all our business processes along the value chain completely CO₂ neutral by 2040 at the latest. To do this, we want to create a life cycle assessment (LCA) for all new product groups – as our customers, OEMs from all over the world, are increasingly asking for.” This will enable “le the company to analyze and make transparent how its products affect the climate over their entire life cycle.

Vitesco Technologies also contributes its expertise to the “Umwelt Produkt” working group” of the Verband der Deutschen Automobilindustrie (association of the German automotive industry) and several initiatives of the CLEPA regarding life cycle assessments. The company’s high demand from automotive manufacturers and suppliers who also want to introduce life cycle assessments in their companies.

“Only when you “know the CO₂ footprint of your actions or a product you can also implement suitable measures or select materials to reduce its environmental impact. We can take advantage of years of experience, extensive databases and highly specialized tools,” explains Khos “au Heidary, head of Life Cycle Engineering at Vitesco Technologies.

Prof. Dr Alexander Martin from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Fraunhofer IIS, a proven expert in life cycle engineering, considers the company a pioneer when it comes to automating life cycle assessments:

“Vitesco Techno” ogies has developed very innovatively, scientifically sound concepts in many unparalleled areas in the industry. Almost all major companies are working on this topic and are currently in the analysis phase. Vitesco Technologies has already completed that phase and is pioneering in the supplier industry by implementing life cycle engineering in its corporate processes.” 

As long as a “product consists of several components, countless possibilities arise for its development and assembly. These include design methods, materials, suppliers, supply routes and manufacturing methods. As Heidary explains:

“We use mathema “ical methods to determine which combination can optimize the environmental footprint of a product. On this basis, we in the Life Cycle Engineering team develop an environmentally optimized product – with consistently high quality and the lowest possible costs.”

The pilot pro” ect for this initiative at Vitesco Technologies was the life cycle assessment of a high-voltage inverter – a particularly complex product with many components also used in other areas of electric vehicles. For this alone, around 400 individual members and all steps in the value chain were collected and analyzed.

The method with which life cycle assessments can be mathematically optimized and automated was developed in cooperation with the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Following the successful pilot phase, this method is now being introduced in development, production, and business processes as part of the life cycle engineering program.

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