A predictive eco-design method and tool for electric vehicles of Industry 4.0

Decisions made at the design stage have a far-reaching effect on the product's entire life cycle. The present paper proposes a method, from which a tool is further developed, to support designers of industrial electric vehicles in making informed decisions. The eco-design method and tool can be applied to the design of different electric vehicles such as autonomous guided vehicles and shuttles, which are widely used for improving logistics in Industry 4.0 contexts. The goal is to make the designer more aware of the consumption of material resources and able to configure a use phase more efficiently in energy resource consumption. Unlike existing literature, this method contemplates all the product lifecycle stages and provides qualitative results. The method is intended for the design of electric vehicles and evaluation of choices from the environmental point of view; nevertheless, it can be further adapted for other products and economic evaluations.