For the first time, cars are being rated not only for tailpipe emissions but for their entire environmental footprint – from raw materials to recycling – through Green NCAP’s new Sustainability Ratings.
The system is designed to counter persistent claims, often made by critics of electric vehicles, that their lifetime environmental impact is worse than that of petrol or diesel models.
Research has long shown the opposite: FairCharge’s Little Book of EV Myths noted that lifetime CO₂ emissions from an EV are around 68% lower than from an internal combustion engine car. Yet until now, there has been no accessible tool for consumers to compare vehicles on a cradle-to-grave basis.
Green NCAP, an independent initiative linked to Euro NCAP – the body that has rated car safety since 1997 – says the new ratings provide just that. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the system accounts for emissions from raw material extraction and production, battery manufacture, energy use across 16 years and 240,000 km, maintenance, and end-of-life disposal.
Dr. Aleksandar Damyanov, Technical Manager at Green NCAP, said: ‘In much the same way that Euro NCAP empowered consumers and transformed vehicle safety, we believe Green NCAP can drive sustainability improvements across the automotive industry.’
To launch the system, 12 popular cars were tested. The all-electric MINI Cooper E and FIAT 600e topped the table, each earning five stars with scores of 97% and 96% respectively. Their small batteries and lighter weight reduced production emissions and boosted efficiency, with energy use of 15–15.5 kWh/100 km on mixed routes. Citroën’s e-C3 also achieved five stars with 91%.
At the lower end, heavy vehicles fared worse. Kia’s seven-seat EV9 received three stars (56%), while the diesel-powered Mazda CX-80 managed just two stars (34%). Both were penalised for size and associated emissions across production, use, and disposal. Engineers stressed that vehicle weight remains a hidden but crucial factor in sustainability – oversized EVs with large batteries risk undermining zero tailpipe gains.
The ratings also include a Driving Experience assessment, measuring efficiency in real-world conditions such as cold weather, charging speed, and range. While the MINI and FIAT scored highly overall, their smaller batteries limited winter ranges to 184 km and 225 km respectively.
By highlighting these trade-offs, Green NCAP aims to give consumers clear, comparative insights and encourage manufacturers to prioritise sustainable design alongside performance.
Consumers can also use Green NCAP’s interactive tool to model results for their own country’s energy mix.
As part of its support to the Green NCAP Sustainability Rating, Ricardo provided electricity data and, as a leader in vehicle life cycle assessment, reviewed and provided feedback on the updated methodology.
Nikolas Hill, Ricardo Head of Vehicle Technologies and Fuels and leading vehicle LCA expert said: ‘By looking more broadly at the environmental impacts of vehicles on a life-cycle basis, manufacturers and new vehicle customers can develop a more complete and holistic understanding of these impacts, to inform their decisions accordingly.
‘Life-cycle assessment is a powerful tool for helping manufacturers and consumers understand how products impact the environment and society, factoring in the full product lifecycle, including impacts across the value chain. This can help support the development of products with improved sustainability credentials.’