The manufacturing process is a major consumer of energy. Automated production lines use energy whilst building the vehicle. Welding is a significant consumer of that energy.
Transport costs
Transport costs of components are an important part of the production costs of a vehicle.
There is an anomaly in transporting raw materials, destined to be made into green, energy efficient motor vehicles, in fossil fuel burning ships and lorries! In some cases it is even cheaper in monetary terms to transport some components by air!
Producing cars efficiently
In theory most production line cars should have similar production costs but in practice this is not the case.
The size of a vehicle, the materials and features selected to comprise the vehicle and the extras, such as luxury items, all make a difference.
The production line
The energy cost of a vehicle production line, both the fixed and variable costs, should also be taken into consideration when looking at the energy cost of a vehicle.
Exactly how this is done should be based on a defined industry standard so that consumers can accurately compare vehicle production costs.
The materials chosen are manufactured or sourced from different places around the world.
Each material has it's own production cost.
Ethically sourced materials
When considering the energy efficiency of building a vehicle, it becomes imperative to know whether or not the material used to make the vehicle has been ethically sourced! The questions to be asked are:
- Has a fair price been paid?
- Are we abusing a poorer nation by taking their resources for our own use?
- Has a poisonous mess been left for the poorer nation to have pay to clean up?
The above issues are part of the true cost of the materials used in the manufacture of a motor vehicle.