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Consumption

New car manufacturing (amortized per year, 15-year lifecycle)

Uuden auton valmistus (jaksotettuna per vuosi, 15 vuoden elinkaari)

71.7
Truecost score
Data confidence: MEDIUM

Carbon well-established from multiple LCA studies. Water and waste have moderate uncertainty. Toxicity is rough estimate.

Manufacturing a new car produces 5,600–8,500 kg CO₂e and uses ~130,000 liters of water. Amortized over 15 years: ~440 kg CO₂e and 8,700 liters/year — before a single kilometer driven.

Did you know? If you drive only 5,000 km/year, the manufacturing emissions of your car exceed the entire year's driving emissions.
Transparent calculation

How was this number determined?

The Truecost score is calculated from absolute physical values. Each row below shows the measured value, how it was normalized, and where it comes from.

Dimension Absolute value Score 100 = Normalized Weight Weighted Confidence
Carbon Emissions 440.0 kg CO₂e 9.5 kg CO₂e 100 ×0.35 35.00 HIGH
Water Consumption 8700.0 liters 3840 liters 100 ×0.2 20.00 MEDIUM
Land Use 2.0 m²·year 51 m²·year 3.92 ×0.2 0.78 LOW
Waste 80.0 kg 5 kg 100 ×0.15 15.00 MEDIUM
Toxicity 15.0 µDALY 162 µDALY 9.26 ×0.1 0.93 LOW
Truecost score (weighted sum) 71.7

Share of your annual planetary budget

Carbon Emissions 46.32%
Water Consumption 2.27%
Land Use 0.04%
Waste 16.00%
Toxicity 0.09%
Source data by dimension

Where do the absolute values come from?

Carbon Emissions
HIGH
Average ICE car manufacturing: 5,600–8,500 kg CO₂e (varies by size, materials). Median ~6,600 kg. Battery EVs: 8,000–12,000 kg (battery adds ~3,000 kg). Using ICE median: 6,600 ÷ 15 = 440 kg/year.
  • Transport & Environment (2023): How clean are electric cars? — lifecycle analysis
  • IVL (2019, updated 2024): Lithium-Ion Vehicle Battery Production — lifecycle GHG
  • Environment.co (2024): Carbon Footprint of Car Manufacturing

Range 370–570 kg/year for ICE. EVs: 530–800 kg/year (but save during use phase).

Water Consumption
MEDIUM
Water footprint of car manufacturing: 52–83 m³/car (Bras et al. 2012). Median ~65 m³ direct + ~65 m³ supply chain = 130,000 L total. 130,000 ÷ 15 = 8,667 L/year.
  • Bras et al. (2012): Water footprint of European cars — ES&T
  • GNA (2023): How much water is needed to make a car?

95% of water consumed in production phase (steel, aluminum, paint). Direct factory use ~40,000 L.

Land Use
LOW
Auto factory ~500 ha per 500,000 cars/year. Supply chain (mining, steel mills): ~2x factory. Total ~3,000 ha / 500,000 = 60 m²/car. Over 15 years: ~2 m²·year amortized annually.
  • Chester & Horvath (2009): Life-cycle assessment of transportation infrastructure

Land for mining (iron ore, bauxite, copper) dominates but is hard to allocate per vehicle.

Waste
MEDIUM
Manufacturing scrap: ~300 kg/car (metals, plastics, paint sludge). End-of-life: ~25% not recycled = ~300 kg waste. Total lifecycle: ~1,200 kg ÷ 15 = 80 kg/year.
  • EEA (2023): End-of-life vehicles statistics
  • ACEA (2023): Vehicle recycling and recovery rates

EU requires 95% recovery rate by mass, but actual recycling rate is ~85%. Plastics and composites are difficult.

Toxicity
LOW
Paint shop VOCs, hexavalent chromium in coatings, mining chemicals (cyanide, sulfuric acid). Health impacts on factory workers and mining communities.
  • Sovacool (2019): Precarious political economy of cobalt — ERSS
  • WHO (2023): Occupational health in automotive manufacturing

Mining toxicity (cobalt, nickel, lithium) significant but poorly quantified per vehicle.

Comparisons

Methodology

Based on Transport & Environment lifecycle analysis and European car water footprint studies. ICE car median values amortized over 15-year ownership. Excludes use-phase emissions.

Sources