Circular Economy Approaches for Electrical and Conventional Vehicles

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the current state of the research and the trends in the field of Circular Economy (CE) for the automotive industry, with electric vehicles (EVs) and conventional vehicles (CVs), being analyzed separately. A systematic literature search was conducted using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method, to screen and select articles from the Clarivate Web of Science database. For the detailed analysis, the information from the selected articles was structured based on such criteria as study objective, findings, limitations, and research proposals, and was further organized into nine categories for EVs, and into four categories for CVs. There were several CE strategies identified in the review, but a major challenge remains the evaluation of these strategies, in order to determine the most relevant, effective, and efficient ones, starting from the goal of minimizing the resource functionality loss. Future studies should focus on promoting new green technologies in the automotive industry, with an emphasis on circularity, in terms of raw materials, energy, production systems, product life extension, second use application, reuse, recycling, and end of life.