Abstract Polymer and polymer composites can improve the fuel economy of vehicles by lightweighting and providing design flexibility. While the automobile's polymer content is increasing over the years, the environmental impact assessment of polymer contribution is limited to non-structural parts replacement and scenario analysis on a hypothetical automobile. This paper presents a life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of an actual electric vehicle made of 47% polymers and polymer composites to clarify the extent of the environmental contribution of polymers for automotive applications. The contribution of each polymer part to the driving performance was examined by physical models with powertrain resizing. The results found that the life cycle GHG is decisively influenced by the fabrication of reinforced plastics and the powertrain resizing enabled by lightweighting. This study conveys that extensive polymer introduction alone is unlikely to reduce the life cycle GHG emissions of an electric vehicle.

中文翻译：

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由47%聚合物和聚合物复合材料组成的电动汽车的环境性能

摘要 聚合物和聚合物复合材料可以通过轻量化和提供设计灵活性来提高车辆的燃油经济性。虽然汽车的聚合物含量逐年增加，但聚合物贡献的环境影响评估仅限于非结构部件更换和假设汽车的情景分析。本文介绍了由 47% 聚合物和聚合物复合材料制成的实际电动汽车的生命周期温室气体 (GHG) 排放，以阐明聚合物对汽车应用的环境贡献程度。每个聚合物部件对驾驶性能的贡献通过具有动力系统尺寸调整的物理模型进行检查。结果发现，生命周期 GHG 受到增强塑料的制造和通过轻量化实现的动力系统尺寸调整的决定性影响。这项研究表明，单独大量引入聚合物不太可能减少电动汽车的生命周期温室气体排放。