Vehicle Design

Life Cycle Thinking - The ‘Big Picture’

Before we discuss how vehicle parameters affect fuel economy and their impact on the environment, it is important to consider the ‘big picture’ when designing for the environment.  ‘Life Cycle Thinking’ considers all factors for a product from raw material extraction to end of life and any cycle in between. 

Life Cycle Thinking requires the engineer to holistically evaluate the environmental consequences of a product or activity.  Life cycle thinking is extremely important for Design for Environment, because while a design could have a positive environmental impact in one area, it can have an adverse impact on the environment when considering other factors.  Due to this reason, we will discuss design tradeoffs with each fuel economy/emission improvement that is presented in the following sections.

• Vehicle Efficiency
• Drag Force
• Light Weight Materials
• Powertrain Overview