Life Cycle Assessment of Autonomous Electric Field Tractors in Swedish Agriculture

• There is an increased interest for battery electric vehicles in multiple sectors, including agriculture. The potential for lowered environmental impact is one of the key factors, but there exists a knowledge gap between the environmental impact of on-road vehicles and agricultural work machinery. In this study, a life cycle assessment was performed on two smaller, self-driving battery electric tractors, and the results were compared to those of a conventional tractor for eleven midpoint characterisation factors, three damage categories and one weighted single score. The results showed that compared to the conventional tractor, the battery electric tractor had a higher impact in all categories during the production phase, with battery production being a majority contributor. However, over the entire life cycle, it had a lower impact in the weighted single score (-72%) and all three damage categories; human health (-74%), ecosystem impact (-47%) and resource scarcity (-67%). The global warming potential over the life cycle of the battery electric tractor was 102 kg CO(2)eq.ha(-1) y(-1) compared to 293 kg CO(2)eq.ha(-1) y(-1) for the conventional system. For the global warming potential category, the use phase was the most influential and the fuel used was the single most important factor.

Subject headings

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Annan lantbruksvetenskap -- Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Other Agricultural Sciences -- Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)