The automotive industry is facing the challenge of reducing its environmental impact to comply with stricter fleet emission regulations. Still, an OEM's contribution to the targets of the Paris Agreement must consider the entire life cycle of a vehicle, surpassing the targets of the current legislations which focusses on the use stage only. This work presents a concept that identifies the ideal configuration of a modular product system like a vehicle to meet a limited environmental impact at the lowest life cycle costs along the entire life cycle. This optimization is based on the ideal combination of modular product components which are selected by an algorithm based on graph theory.
About the authorChris Gabrisch is currently working in the field of HV battery recycling within the automotive industry.

The automotive industry is facing the challenge of reducing its environmental impact to comply with stricter fleet emission regulations. Still, an OEM's contribution to the targets of the Paris Agreement must consider the entire life cycle of a vehicle, surpassing the targets of the current legislations which focusses on the use stage only. This work presents a concept that identifies the ideal configuration of a modular product system like a vehicle to meet a limited environmental impact at the lowest life cycle costs along the entire life cycle. This optimization is based on the ideal combination of modular product components which are selected by an algorithm based on graph theory.