Corporations, including automotive manufacturers, are increasingly exploring extended circular economy strategies as a means to enhance the sustainability of their products. The circular economy paradigm focuses on reducing nonrenewable materials and energy, promoting renewable feedstocks and energy, and keeping products/materials in use across the life cycle of a system. As such, life cycle environmental burdens associated with vehicle manufacturing, use, and disposal could potentially be reduced through circular economy strategies; however, no such comprehensive circular economy framework currently exists for the automotive industry. We develop the first circular economy schematic of automobiles, derived from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's framework. Further, we characterize the current automotive circular economy using metrics of renewable energy and recycled materials. Specifically, for current U.S. average sedans, we find that internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) use ∼6% renewable life cycle primary energy and 27% recycled materials; for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), these measures are ∼8% and 21%, respectively. On a vehicle-miles-traveled basis, BEVs use ∼47% less nonrenewable life cycle primary energy than ICEVs, highlighting the importance of electrification as a strategy for automotive manufacturers to reduce environmental burdens. Our proposed circular economy framework is then applied to Ford Motor Company's sustainability programs and initiatives as an example. This schematic aims to provide a starting point for the automotive industry to operationalize circular economy strategies, the application of which could advance its overall sustainability performance.

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汽车循环经济框架：关闭能源和材料循环

包括汽车制造商在内的企业越来越多地探索扩展循环经济战略，以此作为提高其产品可持续性的手段。循环经济范式侧重于减少不可再生材料和能源，推广可再生原料和能源，并在系统的整个生命周期内保持产品/材料的使用。因此，与车辆制造、使用和处置相关的生命周期环境负担可能会通过循环经济战略得到减少；然而，目前汽车行业还没有这样全面的循环经济框架。我们开发了第一个汽车循环经济示意图，源自艾伦麦克阿瑟基金会的框架。更远，我们使用可再生能源和回收材料的指标来描述当前的汽车循环经济。具体而言，对于目前美国普通轿车，我们发现内燃机汽车 (ICEV) 使用约 6% 的可再生生命周期初级能源和 27% 的回收材料；对于纯电动汽车 (BEV)，这些措施分别为 8% 和 21%。在车辆行驶里程的基础上，BEV 使用的不可再生生命周期初级能源比 ICEV 少约 47%，突出了电​​气化作为汽车制造商减少环境负担战略的重要性。我们提议的循环经济框架随后被应用于福特汽车公司的可持续发展计划和举措作为示例。