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com
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ScienceDirect
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Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000
Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
Transportation Research Procedia 72 (2023) 1560–1567

Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference

Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference
State-of-the-art Analysis on Alternative Materials for the
State-of-the-art Analysis on Alternative
Automotive Industry Materials for the
Automotive Industry a
a
Beatriz Ildefonsoa*, David Storera
Beatriz Ildefonso *, David Storer
a
CLEPA, Cours Saint-Michel 30g, Brussels B-1040, Belgium
a
CLEPA, Cours Saint-Michel 30g, Brussels B-1040, Belgium

Abstract
Abstract
The automotive industry is under increasing pressure to meet environmental and performance demands at competitive costs, leading
The automotive
to disruptive industry
changes on is
howunder increasing
materials pressure toused
are produced, meetand
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managed at and the performance demands
end-of-life. As at in
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material changes
use are on how
strongly materials
interlinked to are
theproduced,
regulatoryused and managed
environment and atthethe end-of-life.European
overarching As outlined in this
Union paper, for
ambition the atrends in
carbon
material usecircular
neutral and are strongly interlinked
economy. to the regulatory
The competitiveness andenvironment
resilience ofandthe the overarching
automotive European
industry Union ambition
is dependent for a carbon
on the availability of
neutral and alternative
appropriate circular economy.
materialsTheandcompetitiveness and is
the role of research resilience
crucial inofensuring
the automotive
that the industry
industry is dependent
specific needsonarethe availability
met. CLEPA, of as
appropriate alternative
the association materialsthe
that represents and the role of
European research issuppliers,
automotive crucial insupports
ensuringathat the industry
technology openspecific needs
approach to are met.all
exploit CLEPA, as
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achieve automotive
in a truly suppliers,
sustainable mannersupports a technology
climate neutrality open approach to exploit all potential
by 2050.
pathways
© and Authors.
2022 The design options to achieve
Published in a truly sustainable
by ELSEVIER B.V. This ismanner
an openclimate
accessneutrality
articleby 2050.the CC BY-NC-ND license
under
© 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.
© 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review
Peer-review under
under responsibility
responsibility ofof the
the scientific
scientific committee
committee ofof the
the Transport
Transport Research Arena (TRA)
Research Arena (TRA) Conference
Conference
Peer-review
Keywords: under responsibility
automotive; of the scientific
materials; circularity; recycling;committee of design-for-sustainability
supply-chain; the Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference
Keywords: automotive; materials; circularity; recycling; supply-chain; design-for-sustainability

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
Accounting for over six per cent of total European Union (EU) employment (CLEPA, 2021), the automotive
Accounting
industry for over
is currently sixsignificant
facing per cent pressure
of total European
to advanceUnion (EU)
the twin employment
green (CLEPA, adding
and digital transition, 2021), to
thetheautomotive
challenge
industry is currently facing significant pressure to advance the twin green and digital transition,
of increasing globalization and competitiveness. Over the last decades, and in face of climate change, the adding to theautomotive
challenge
of increasing globalization and competitiveness. Over the last decades, and in face of climate change,
industry has focused primarily on reducing tailpipe emissions (Hannon, Nauclér, Suneson, & Yüksel, 2020). However, the automotive
industry has focused
as the Circular economyprimarily on reducing
movement tailpipeinemissions
gains traction (Hannon, Nauclér,
Europe, addressing the carbon Suneson, & of
footprint Yüksel, 2020). However,
the vehicles’ upstream
as the Circular economy movement gains traction in Europe, addressing the carbon footprint of the
supply chain and overall environmental impact is quickly becoming a top priority for suppliers and manufacturersvehicles’ upstream
supply
alike. chain and overall environmental impact is quickly becoming a top priority for suppliers and manufacturers
alike.
The selection of materials used in the final product is a matter of strategic relevance, influencing vehicle
The selection
performance of materials
in terms of safety, used
weightinand
theemissions
final product
plus aiswide
a matter
range of other
strategic relevance,
factors includinginfluencing vehicle
quality perception
performance in terms of safety, weight and emissions plus a wide range of other factors including quality perception

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +351926116560.

* Corresponding b.ildefonso@clepa.be
E-mail address:author. Tel.: +351926116560.
E-mail address: b.ildefonso@clepa.be
2352-1465 © 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
2352-1465 © 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference

2352-1465 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference
10.1016/j.trpro.2023.11.624
 Beatriz Ildefonso et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 72 (2023) 1560–1567 1561
2 Beatriz Ildefonso and David Store / Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000

and cost. Over recent years, stricter vehicle emission legislation has led to the increased introduction of lightweight
materials to reduce vehicle mass. Plastics and polymer composites, which already dominate vehicle interiors, exteriors,
trim, and lighting, are gaining use in other vehicle systems due to their lower weight, durability and relative ease to
shape (Fentahun & Savaş, 2018). However, new requirements for recycled content and increased plastic recovery
targets may soon change this trend, and open possibilities for alternative options. This is the case of bio-based
materials, which according to the EU Bio-Economy Strategy (Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
(European Commission), 2018), are seen as a strong alternative to the currently used fossil-based materials.
This article looks into the main regulations and policies at the EU level that directly or indirectly influence the
choice of materials in road vehicles, the key challenges they bring to the automotive suppliers in Europe and how EU
research and innovation (R&I) initiatives are fostering the search for sustainable and affordable solutions to specific
challenges in Europe.

2. Key EU Policies influencing the materials used in the Automotive Sector

On 2020, the Regulation (EU) 2019/631 entered into force setting CO2 emission performance standards for new
passenger cars and vans, including an emission reduction target of 100% by 2035 and incentive mechanisms for zero-
and low-emissions vehicles. More recently, the European Union started revising another key law which sets emission
standards applicable at type-approval stage, the so-called Euro 7. In the aftermath of these regulations, we can identify
some positive changes, notably as reported by the European Commission, based on data from 2020, the average CO2
emissions from new passenger cars registered in Europe decreased by 12% compared to the previous year and the
share of electric cars tripled (Directorate-General for Climate Action (European Commission), 2021).
While there are multiple strategies to reduce tail-pipe emissions, the use of alternative lighter materials, or processes
that enable a lighter final product, are often considered a key solution in that regard. Generally referred to as light-
weighting strategies, rely on either the use of lightweight materials such as plastics, carbon fibres, fibre-reinforced
(plastics) materials primarily at the expense of metals, or “lean” design approaches, to reduce a vehicle’s weight,
hence reducing the fuel consumption.
In result of extensive research in material sciences and process technologies, many advanced materials such as high
strength steel, aluminium and composite materials started to be deployed in vehicles. With individual materials
reaching their performance limits, the combination of advantages of various mono-materials into one application has
been gaining attention (Czerwinski, 2021). For example, composites can offer a reduction of weight of up to 40% (for
carbon-fibre reinforced polymers), compared to conventional materials such as high-strength steel and aluminium.
The market for global automotive composite materials is forecasted to reach €12.5 billion by 2026, up from €7.1
billion in 2018 (Fortune Business Insights, 2020). These composites, however, generate significant challenges, from
assembling to end-of-life recyclability, in addition to being generally more expensive than conventional materials
such as steel and aluminium. Consequently, while complex multi-material solutions have the potential for substantial
reduction of emissions, metals are expected to remain the prevalent material choice, in particular. In parallel, the use
of plastic in cars has proven efficient in reducing weight, while allowing for versatility in applications from safety to
aesthetic purposes. In fact, the plastic content of passenger vehicles has increased from 13% in 1990 to 18% in 2020.
Though Europe remains the largest market for automotive lightweight materials, the current emissions target
reduction system does not permit car manufacturers to reap the full benefits of using lightweight solutions. A
manufacturer that reduces the weight of their vehicles will, in return, see their emissions target tightened, as the targets
are adjusted based on the mass of the vehicle. This has in part prevented car manufacturers from fully embracing the
benefit of light-weighting. Instead, car manufacturers have rather shifted their focus to the potential of electrification
and advances in powertrain technologies and other innovations geared at improving vehicles’ fuel economy.
The uptake of electric cars and vans in Europe has increased significantly in recent years. This market transition is
already translating into new needs on the material level. For example, for battery electric vehicle (BEV) powertrains,
ferrous use is expected to decrease drastically, while for example plastics content will be similar to internal combustion
engine (ICE) vehicles. BEVs will use more copper due to its use in batteries and wiring harnesses, and also other
critical materials such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements. This trend is also opening a new chapter of
lightweight R&I since the batteries or added electrical components make vehicles heavier than the conventional ICE
vehicles (electric vehicles (EVs) are typically 125% heavier than ICE equivalents). Consumer preferences for more
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Beatriz Ildefonso and David Store / Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 3

spacious and comfortable cars have also led to a general increase of size and weight of vehicles on the market. In
parallel, the total vehicle weight has increased further due to the integration of more safety features (e.g., Advanced
Driving Assistance Systems) and solutions to help reduce exhaust emissions.
The electrification trend is also expected to motivate a change of focus from the use phase, i.e., the tailpipe
emissions of the road vehicles, to the environmental impact in the production and end-of-life/disposal phases, which
are of course highly linked to the materials used and the way they are designed to increase resource efficiency. These
aspects refer to the circular economy goal introduced in EU in 2020 through the Circular Economy Action Plan, one
of the pillars of the European Green Deal. Under this plan, batteries and vehicles are considered key value chains with
potential for circularity, and it foresees renewed rules for instance on mandatory recycled content for certain plastic
components of new vehicles (BROWN, FLICKENSCHILD, & MAZZI, 2020).
One of the key actions of the Circular Economy plan is the review of the Ecodesign Directive, to broaden the scope
of consistent EU-wide rules for improving the environmental performance of products, right from the design stage.
The proposal from the Commission published in April 2022, builds on the successful energy efficiency initiative to
set requirements in product-specific legislation, including rules to make products more durable, reliable, reusable,
upgradable, reparable, easier to maintain and refurbish, and energy and resource-efficient. This proposal also
introduces additional information requirements for products to allow consumers and other circular economy
stakeholders to make decisions based on lifecycle data.
Understanding how to best design a product for circularity requires having into consideration the current system in
place at the end-of-life of said product. Every year in Europe about 6 million vehicles reach their end-of-life and are
deregistered through official schemes, becoming end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The treatments of ELVs are regulated
by the Directive 2000/53/EC (End of Life Vehicles Directive, or ELV Directive), accompanied by minimum reuse,
recycling and recovery rates. To satisfy these ambitious targets, current management schemes focus mainly on the
recovery of metals, which are about 70% of ELVs weight and are easily resold to companies in the metallurgical
sector. This directive also prohibits the use of hazardous substances at the manufacturing stage (especially lead,
mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium) except in defined exemptions, when there are no adequate alternatives.
The exemptions are listed in Annex II of the Directive, which is revised on a bi-annual basis.
Since the adoption of the ELV Directive in 2000, the materials and technologies used by vehicle manufacturers
have evolved greatly, making some aspects of the Directive outdated or difficult to comply with (e.g., complex
composite materials or plastics with certain additives). An even bigger change refers to the arrival of electric and
hybrid vehicles, which will lead to considerable changes in the management of ELVs in the 2030-2035 horizon. A
specific example is the increased use of electronic components containing gold, silver, palladium, tantalum and other
rare earth materials, for which specific management guidelines during the dismantling process are crucial, in order to
avoid negative environmental consequences and loss of valuable resources. This is not yet reflected in the ELV
Directive, neither through guidelines to separate and recover nor specific recovery/recycling targets for these
materials. In light of those and other new requirements in the sector, the ELV Directive is currently under revision
with a proposal from the European Commission expected by the end of 2022.
Under the circular economy action plan, there is also an intention to explore the potential of an EU bio-economy,
to reduce fossil emissions through the replacement of greenhouse gas (GHG) intensive materials and fossil fuels with
bio-based materials and bioenergy, respectively. One way the bio-economy is expected to contribute to climate
mitigation is through the concept of sustainable long-term storage of carbon in products (especially for long-lived
products), such as bio-based material from biomass and natural fibres like flax, hemp and others. There is, however,
still no scientific consensus about methodologies to measure such storage, in particular concerning its duration
(European Commission, 2021). The challenge is to support a coherent portfolio of activities involving the expansion
of nature-based solutions, supporting the greater use of bio-based materials, wood reuse, recycling, and disposal. This
is an area where practical guidance and decision support tools still need to be worked on (Fritsche, et al., 2021).

3. Challenges faced by the Automotive Industry with respect to Sustainability

From an entire life-cycle perspective, starting from raw material sourcing, until the end-of-life point, a series of
challenges are hindering the identification of solutions aligned with circularity and sustainability principles.
Considering the typically long production and use timespan of the automotive industry products, plus the need to
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guarantee legacy spare parts (10 to 15 years), it becomes crucial to re-think the development of appropriate solutions
for the sector. In this chapter is presented a non-exhaustive list of challenges faced by the automotive industry in
finding suitable alternative materials for use along the supply chain.

Challenge 1) Developing alternative materials that are compliant with material and chemical regulations
Implementing policies and measures to achieve more sustainable solutions and practices is often a challenge due
to competing priorities, often ending in unavoidable trade-offs: for instance, focusing on the durability of materials
can lead to lower recyclability and vice versa; product features like greater durability or recyclability do not
automatically lead to lower energy use or emissions during the use phase.
One such particular concern in the automotive supply industry is the case of material regulations in the context of
material circularity. Aiming for an increasingly closed loop of materials in the industry can relieve the environmental
burden of constant raw material sourcing and even bring new business opportunities. It can however also mean the
accumulation of legacy hazardous substances, i.e., restricted or prohibited chemicals, in the material supply chain.
With over two hundred groups of substances identified as potential substances of very high concern (SVHC) and
subcategories of these substances difficult to identify due to different naming conventions, the risk of accidental non-
compliance is increasing. This is a burden passed on to recyclers and remanufacturers, who must ensure that the
repaired/recycled products they produce are compliant with current substance regulations. Owing to the long lifetime
(15-22 years) of EU ELVs (and even longer for trucks and buses), a time lag is experienced between the most recent
list of substances restricted, and hence the data available on their presence in the parts’ composition. Such an obligation
may hamper the potential of circular business models for the automotive industry.

Challenge 2) Developing alternative materials with the needed availability and performance
Automotive vehicles have the particularity of being safety-sensitive products, which means they must comply with
strict standards on technical properties, in particular for parts such as airbags, tires and seatbelts.
In the case of recycled materials, their incorporation into vehicles’ supply chain depends on their performance in
terms of impact resistance or deformation when used in safety parts such as bumpers or in terms of painting adherence
in the case of aesthetic applications. Consequently, considerable time is required for the testing and qualification
procedure (typically 2 to 3 years for a new piece with plastic content). Obtaining reliable and consistent recycled
resins for making automotive compounds is difficult. Odours accompanying recycled resins are not easily removed
and limit use in interior applications. To successfully obtain cost-effective products fit for further usage, manufacturers
must consider the costs of removing odours and contaminants, as well as introducing additives for up-cycling.
Similarly, the issue of availability must also be considered. While the recycling rates certainly provide an indication
of the number of materials recovered by the waste management system in place in the EU, there is yet no assurance
that there will be a certain amount available at a specific quality grade at a constant amount.

Challenge 3) Developing alternative materials that are not reliant on unsustainable supply chains
As previously mentioned, accounting for the sustainability impact of a certain material or product is often a matter
of trade-offs. In the automotive sector, one striking example is the dependency on critical and conflict raw materials
in the supply chain of electric vehicles, particularly Li-ion batteries, fuel cells and electric traction motors. Of all
materials currently used in battery manufacturing, cobalt, natural graphite, and lithium are critical in the 2020 list of
critical raw materials (CRMs). Individual materials also warrant a closer look: 54% of global cobalt mine production
originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; while refined cobalt production comes mostly from China
(46%). The EU produces only 1% of all battery raw materials, and only 8% of traction motors. Another example of
vulnerable supply chains for innovative or alternative materials is the case of bio-based materials, in particular the
case of bioplastics. Today, bioplastics are predominantly produced from agro-based feedstock, i.e., plants that are rich
in carbohydrates, such as corn or sugarcane. This is often raising questions regarding potential competition with food
and feed supply.

Challenge 4) Developing recycling technologies that give response to the parallel circularity trends
In a globalised and competitive innovation-driven environment, European industry needs to gain access to more
performant, cost-competitive and sustainable advanced materials, whilst mastering their integration into technologies
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Beatriz Ildefonso and David Store / Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 5

for European strategic value chains. Recycling technologies currently market available represent one significant
technological barrier with respect to the very wide variety of materials commonly used in a vehicle, including different
types of plastics. Mechanical recycling is also an inappropriate option to handle biodegradable polymers on a
commercial scale. It can cause thermal and mechanical degradation of the material leading to a lowering of molar
mass or cross-linking compromising certain properties of the products, such as the tensile strength, tensile strength at
break, melt flow index, impact strength or thermal stability. Chemical recycling is an interesting end-of-life option for
materials that cannot be mechanically recycled; however, it has not yet been implemented for large-scale post-
consumer recycling.

4. Role of EU Research and Innovation initiatives in addressing the existing challenges

As Europe gears up for a more resilient, green, and digital recovery, there is an ever-present need to maintain strong
industrial and technological leadership. This will require intensive efforts in improving sourcing, production,
performance and end-of-life practices of materials and products, while keeping costs and time of production low.
While there has been significant progress in relevant technologies in recent years, many barriers remain involving
crucial issues to be overcome to reduce the environmental footprint of vehicles.
Horizon Europe, EU’s R&I programme, has a key role to play in terms of fostering the uptake and roll-out of
advanced solutions while reducing fragmentation of R&I efforts. Improvements in materials are mainly tackled
through Clusters 4 and 5 of the Horizon Europe R&I Programme (European Commission, s.d.). Expected impacts
include clean and climate-neutral industrial value chains, sustainable-by-design advanced materials and technologies
and clean primary production of raw materials.
This section provides a non-exhaustive list of relevant EU Partnerships and funded projects relevant for alternative
materials in the automotive sector and the specific challenges of the automotive industry that currently hamper further
contribution of this sector to the Circular Economy targets in Europe.
Key Partnerships under Cluster 4 include Made-in-Europe and Processes4Planet, both aiming at achieving higher
levels of sustainability in manufacturing, circularity and decarbonisation of European process industries as a means
of ensuring greater competitiveness of a wide range of European industrial sectors.
The Made-in-Europe Partnership aims to lead in the transition of manufacturing towards a sustainable,
economically successful activity with the appropriate consideration for the well-being of workers and society. Made-
in-Europe has four General Objectives, amongst which “Achieving Circular and climate-neutral manufacturing”. To
address key issues including CO2 emissions and scarcity of key materials, Made-in-Europe addresses advanced de-
manufacturing, remanufacturing and recycling technologies for a circular economy involving also manufacturing with
new and substitute materials. Importantly, the circular-by-design approach including virtual end-to-end life-cycle
engineering and manufacturing is being fostered together with the need for digital platforms and data sharing solutions.
Made-in-Europe is linking the flexible design, manufacturing and (re-) configuration of products with the services
associated to these products throughout their lifecycles. Various sector specific initiatives are considered including
each of the different transport sectors (automotive, aerospace, space, trains, waterborne etc), exploiting synergies
between product development processes and production engineering and manufacturing. The interaction between such
“application sector” initiatives will focus on the anticipation of requirements and the awareness of available
technologies that can have an impact on different sectors at the earliest stages ( Europe Partnership is the European
Factories of the Future, 2021).
The Processes4Planet (P4Planet) Partnership aims is to transform the European process industries to achieve
circularity and overall climate neutrality at the EU level by 2050 while enhancing their global competitiveness.
P4Planet is a European co-programmed public-private Partnership established in the context of the Cluster 4 (Digital,
Industry and Space) of Horizon Europe funding programme. P4Planet also connects to other initiatives that develop
sector-specific (e.g., Clean Steel) or solution-specific (e.g., Hydrogen Europe or Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE))
innovation for the process industries. Innovations include the recycling of all materials, which shall be enabled by
developing industrial processes, sorting/separating technologies, and circular value chains that leverage industrial-
urban symbiosis models. The focus is on increasing resource efficiency and the valorisation of all by-products, hence
reducing the EU dependency on imported resources including critical raw materials. In parallel, process industries
are encouraged to work more closely with manufacturers and service providers downstream to ensure that the materials
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6 Beatriz Ildefonso and David Store / Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000

developed by the process industries will be appropriate for the circular economy without compromising on
performance (A.SPIRE, 2021).
The Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) is a key public-private partnership that connects actors
from across different industrial sectors to address the technological, regulatory and market challenges faced by the
bio-based applications, fostering collaboration between stakeholders along the entire bio-based value chains, including
primary production and processing industries, SMEs, research centres and universities. The overall objective of the
CBE JU is to implement a programme of R&I activities in Europe to exploit available renewable biological resources
for the production of bio-based materials, and on that basis, support the establishment of sustainable biobased value
chains. Sustainable sourcing and utilisation of biological waste from agriculture, industry and municipal sectors are
included together with the development of multi-scale bio-refinery processing technology. Multiple actions are being
initiated to achieve new cross-sector interconnections in the bio-based economy, new bio-based materials developed
(technology readiness level (TRL) 3), validated (TRL 4-5) or demonstrated (TRL 6-7-8) and validated, improved
technologies to fill gaps in value chains and make for new chemical building blocks, advanced materials, novel
products and diverse applications ( Circular Bio-based Economy Joint Undertaking, 2022).
On the emissions side, focusing primarily on reducing the environmental impact of road transportation through
electrification with battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, the 2ZERO Partnership aims to pave the way to
achieve climate-neutral road transport, emission-free urban areas, and negligible emissions in rural areas; 2ZERO
focuses on the development zero tailpipe emission vehicles for people and goods and their integration into the road
transport and mobility system in Europe. To achieve its vision, activities in 2ZERO are structured around four main
pillar including: “LCA and circular economy approaches for sustainable and innovative road mobility solutions, to
ensure long term sustainability of the developed solutions” including the development of a harmonised and commonly
accepted life-cycle inventory (LCI) database with reliable, correct and transparent data, and use cases reflecting the
needs of all stakeholders; methods and tools for life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) tailored to the transport
sector and demonstrate the feasibility of advanced circular economy strategies in zero-emission mobility solutions
through performed use cases. These and other R&I actions will be crucial for achieving the vision of 2ZERO by 2030
(Towards Zero Emission Road Transport (2Zero), 2021).
On the specific, and critical, topic of batteries, Batteries European (BATT4EU) is a public-private Partnership with
the mission to establish a world-leading innovative battery ecosystem in Europe by 2030, boost a competitive,
sustainable and circular European battery value chain and drive the transformation towards a carbon-neutral society.
The BATT4EU Partnership promotes R&I activities dealing with the upstream segments of the battery value chain,
from raw materials to battery cells manufacturing, including a focus on advanced materials, battery recycling and
secondary raw materials. By 2030 it aims to, for example, “enhance the sustainability of the main supply chains of
battery raw materials and achieve the lowest possible carbon footprint of the supply chain from raw materials
extraction through battery manufacturing, use and recycling” (Batteries Europe Partnership (Batt4EU), 2021).

In order to showcase how the EU research environment is attempting to address the challenges listed in the previous
section, a brief description of selected R&I Projects examples is listed below in Table 1.

Table 1. EU Research and Innovation Projects addressing material circularity challenges in the automotive industry
Challenge addressed Brief project description
Challenges 1) The NONTOX project focuses on the removal of hazardous and undesired substances from plastic waste
Developing alternative taking into account the whole value chain: sorting and pre-treatment techniques, recycling technologies but
materials that are also post-treatment techniques (European Commission, 2021)
compliant with
The REMADYL project aims at recycling PVC with hazardous legacy substances (e.g., phthalate plasticisers,
material and chemical heavy metal based stabilisers) through a new process based on extractive extrusion technology in combination
regulations with novel solvents and melt filtration. This process was developed with the goal of rejuvenating ‘old PVC’
into high purity PVC tuned towards the demands of various soft and hard PVC products at market competitive
cost (European Commission, 2019).
The CREATOR project focuses on process development and demonstration (to TRL 5) to remove hazardous,
already banned bromine-containing flame-retardants from waste streams. The project will implement ways to
1566 Beatriz Ildefonso et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 72 (2023) 1560–1567
Beatriz Ildefonso and David Store / Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 7

collect secondary raw materials, identify the presence of hazardous flame retardants, remove these
contaminants from the materials and finally reuse the materials (European Commission, 2019).
Challenge 2) The MultiCycle project aims to address the challenges of recycling multi-layer packaging and fibre reinforced
Developing alternative plastics, with a strong focus on the validation of both the processability and resulting performance of the
materials with the recycled materials in automotive applications when compared to the use of virgin materials, to confirm their
needed availability and usability for a range of applications (e.g., vehicle battery carrier) (European Commission, 2018).
performance
Challenge 3) The SALEMA project focuses on Europe’s need for critical raw materials, by focusing on solutions for CRM-
Developing alternative reliant high-performance aluminium grades required in electrical vehicles. This project also proposes a
materials that are not
circular economy model using scrap metal as an alternative source of critical raw material and finding suitable
reliant on
unsustainable supply substitutes in alloying systems (European Commission, 2021).
chains The CROCODILE project showcases an innovative metallurgical system for the recovery of cobalt and the
production of cobalt metal and upstream products (European Commission, 2021).
In the BARBARA project the goal has been to prototype and validate new bio-based materials but using food
waste and agricultural by-products as raw material source, for application in the construction and automotive
industries (European Commission, 2021).
Challenge 4) The LIFE PlasPLUS project looks into the production of high purity recycled thermoplastics but also the
Developing recycling recovery of critical raw materials (antimony) from mixed plastic waste from the automotive and electrical and
technologies that give
electronic equipment sector (European Commission, s.d.).
response to the parallel
circularity trends The REVOLUTION project proposes the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimise the
input of recycled materials and injection moulding process to deliver high-quality parts. The AI Platform uses
data from three areas of the production process to predict part quality when using recycled materials
(European Commission, 2020).

5. Conclusions

In this final section we summarise the main conclusions of this work:

• As the Circular economy movement gains traction in Europe, addressing the carbon footprint of the vehicles’
upstream supply chain and overall environmental impact is quickly becoming a top priority for suppliers and
manufacturers alike.
• This comes with a set of new challenges for the sector, and often industry efforts to maximise resource efficiency
are hampered by European target conflicts, contradicting regulations and significant gaps in the needed data and
technology. CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, works to provide guidance to the
European institutions on how regulations can be best shaped in order to allow for a sustainable and competitive
automotive industry.
• Identifying viable alternative materials for the vehicle industry will be essential to improve value chain resilience
and competitiveness. And while the EU has set the framework to address general industry needs, the automotive
sector has very specific challenges which require dedicated solutions. CLEPA addresses this challenge by actively
engaging in Horizon-Europe R&I Partnerships and Projects, to help ensure that the sector specific challenges are
reflected accordingly.

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