Life Cycle Carbon Footprint (LCA) Comparison: Porsche Panamera (ICE) vs. Tesla Model Y (BEV) — incorporating the role of road design

This report compares the life‑cycle carbon footprint of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), represented by the Porsche Panamera, and a battery electric vehicle (BEV) represented by the Tesla Model Y. As owner manuals provide qualitative guidance rather than life‑cycle inventories, quantitative magnitudes are contextualized using the European life-cycle assessment (LCA) study (Pipitone et al., 2021, Sustainability). In addition, the analysis explicitly incorporates a systems perspective from the 2026 review (Wong et al., 2026, Energies), which argues that road design standards and road‑network operations can materially influence transport energy use and associated emissions via mechanisms such as flow stabilization, reduced stop–start conditions, and multimodal prioritization. Results indicate that (i) ICEV life‑cycle greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions are typically use‑phase dominated by fuel combustion, (ii) BEVs exhibit higher embodied emissions in production (notably battery manufacturing) but can achieve lower life‑cycle emissions where the electricity mix is sufficiently low‑carbon and lifetime mileage is adequate, and (iii) road design and operations shift the operational energy intensity of both ICEVs and BEVs, thereby affecting breakeven mileage and the magnitude of any BEV advantage.