Development and Application of an End-of-Life Framework

Abstract: As the global climate crisis becomes more urgent, organizations are forced to find ways of reducing their environmental footprint to meet changing climate policies and consumer demands. As the automotive industry is adapting to the shift from internal combustion engines to electrification, as well as the shift from traditional linear business models to circular ones, there is a chance for new actors entering the market to adopt circular business models from their inception, giving them an edge over incumbent firms who have slower adaption times. Cake 0 Emission (generally referred to as “CAKE”) is one of these new actors, who has the vision of creating electric two-wheelers with minimum environmental impact. As their motorbikes are yet to reach the end of their product life cycles, the company has a need to investigate how they can be properly managed in the end-of-life phase. A three step framework has therefore been created to facilitate the end-of-life practices for electric motorbike manufacturers. The three included aspects are: 1. the assessment of the current prerequisites for end-of-life management, 2. how it can be improved through material choice and design improvements, and 3. how the business model can be intensified to decrease the environmental impact of the product-service offerings. The created framework was then implemented on one of CAKE’s business-to-business motorbikes called Makka:work, where the product was analyzed on a component level to investigate its level of disassembly, its second life potential and potential design and material improvements. The company’s current business model was also broadly investigated to see whether improvements could be made from a sustainability perspective.