Cradle-to-grave

The chosen scope determines what an LCA can demonstrate and is the first source of disagreement in comparisons. Cradle-to-grave covers extraction and refining of raw materials, manufacturing, assembly, distribution, use and end of life. Cradle-to-gate stops at the factory gate: it is the scope of published battery cell ranges, for example 54 to 115 kg CO2e/kWh in 2024-2025. Well-to-wheel covers only the energy-use phase and excludes manufacturing and end of life. Comparing cradle-to-grave with well-to-wheel systematically distorts the conclusion. The consolidated TranSensus LCA guidelines of July 2025, the European reference for zero-emission vehicles, explicitly require a cradle-to-grave scope for every product LCA, with a functional unit in passenger.km (one passenger by default), a reference lifetime of 200,000 km for passenger cars and 240,000 km for light commercial vehicles, and dynamic modelling of the electricity mix based on a recognised energy scenario rather than the mix in the year of purchase.