Life Cycle Assessment of a two-wheeled electric vehicle within a shared micromobility system

Shared micro-mobility systems, which refer to lightweight electric or human-powered vehicles, offer convenient and sustainable solutions for short-distance urban travel, helping reduce both emissions and traffic congestion. However, their growing adoption raises concerns about environmental sustainability, particularly regarding emissions reduction, resource use, and alignment with circular economy principles. This study evaluates the environmental impact of an innovative shared micro-mobility system developed for the city of Coimbra by the MHSi Group in collaboration with the University of Aveiro, under Portugal’s national recovery plan (PRR). Using Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), the analysis focuses on key stages such as production, transport, infrastructure, and vehicle use, and examines how factors like materials, import distances, energy sources, and mileage influence environmental performance. The research follows the standard LCA framework—Goal and Scope Definition, Inventory Analysis, Impact Assessment, and Results Interpretation—using SimaPro 9.0 and the Ecoinvent 3 database. The ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint H method is applied. The functional unit is one vehicle, with an expected lifespan of 10 years. Results show that the use phase is the most impactful, accounting for an average of 67% of total environmental impacts due to maintenance activities which involve replacing several components. Among these, battery cell production consistently ranks among the top contributors due to its high mass and repeated replacement. The production phase contributes around 32% of total impacts, while the end-of-life phase has a negligible effect. Aluminium, both wrought and cast, is a key impact driver across production and use stages. Alternative scenario analysis shows that replacing aluminium with steel significantly reduces production-related impacts, while reducing battery mass and switching to renewable electricity are more effective in lowering use-phase emissions. Relocating component manufacturing from China to Portugal results in only minor improvements, with limited benefits from shorter transport distances and slightly cleaner European industrial processes. In the best‑case scenario — which combines all the favorable measures, the model estimates an average life‐cycle impact reduction of 26% across all impact categories. When expressing performance per passenger‑kilometer (pkm), it emerges that environmental sustainability depends heavily on utilisation: extending the vehicle’s life by two additional years over the baseline while increasing daily distance travelled can lead to an additional 7% reduction in impacts.