Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Mobility Servitization: The Effect of Fleet Technology Changes

Abstract

In recent years, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) modes, such as carpooling (CP) and ridesourcing (RS), are gaining popularity. Although studies have explored the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of different MaaS modes, the integration of different powertrain systems and car body styles in MaaS fleets have not been assessed in detail. This research analysed the full life cycle GHG impacts of MaaS fleet changes employing passenger-kilometre as the functional unit. Higher occupancy mode, CP, is shown to produce the lowest GHG emissions (up to 23% compared to a private car) irrespective of the powertrain system or car body style changes in the fleets. Results highlighted that the use of electric vehicles with sedan body type instead of SUVs has better potential to reduce GHG emissions (at least 57% compared to the current fleet) in RS. Results have also shown the higher GHG emissions of larger (comfort) vehicle models used in RS mode, an 11-382% increase compared to mid-sized sedans and SUVs. BEV sedan and SUV larger vehicles in the RS fleet have shown higher GHG emissions than ICEV sedan PCs. This study has shown the importance of electrifying the RS fleet, especially the larger vehicles, and increasing net occupancy to reduce GHG emissions. The study has also highlighted electric sedans as the least GHG emitting technology combination in the MaaS fleets.