Ecoinvent 3.10 Transportation model lorry

Question

Hello,

As I understand does the transport model from ecoinvent use a rather simple method that assumes a 50% payload. This is because the model considers one trip with a full load and an empty return leg.

For example, if you are transporting 100 tons from point A to point B over a distance of 10 km by lorry, the total amount of ton-kilometers (tkm) calculated for the model would be:

$100\text{t}\times 10\text{km}\times 2\text{ (for the round trip)}=2,000\text{tkm}$

$\text{Is that correct and is there an easy way to model a transport with a full load for both ways?}$

Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Hi, yes ecoinvent uses a simple model, but you do not need to calculate the distance twice as the truck in reality will rarely drive empty on its way back. So the return trip is not your responsibility any more, so to say, and it would be just 100t*10km= 1,000 tkm.

Edited because of your comment below: It is 100t*10 km + 0t*10km = 1,000 tkm.

Comments

In my case, I know that the trucks return empty. However, what unsettles me is the following sentence from ecoinvent: 'Data on transport are calculated for an average load factor, and include empty return trips.'

Does 'included' mean that it is taken into account that one trip is empty (hence the 50% load factor), or are the additional kilometers for the return trip also considered?

Thanks for you help