An analysis of indirect water withdrawal and consumption due to electricity and workers in automotive manufacturing facilities

Figures & data

Table 1. Water data for representative global facilities for hypothetical automotive company (all water values are in m³/year).

Facility name	Surface water	Ground water	Municipal water	Total withdrawal	Discharge	Recycled	Total consumption
USA Car			400,000	400,000	200,000	100,000	100,000
USA Truck			800,000	800,000	400,000	200,000	200,000
India Car	200,000			200,000	100,000	50,000	50,000
India Truck	400,000			400,000	200,000	100,000	100,000
Germany Car			500,000	500,000	250,000	125,000	125,000
Mexico Car	200,000			200,000	100,000	50,000	50,000
China Car		200,000		200,000	100,000	50,000	50,000
China Truck			400,000	400,000	200,000	100,000	100,000
Japan Car			400,000	400,000	200,000	100,000	100,000
Japan Truck			800,000	800,000	400,000	200,000	200,000
South Korea Car			2,000,000	2,000,000	1,000,000	500,000	500,000
Brazil Car	200,000			200,000	100,000	50,000	50,000
Brazil Truck	400,000			400,000	200,000	100,000	100,000
UK Super Luxury			110,000	110,000	55,000	27,500	27,500

Table 2. Water data for representative global facilities per unit production.

Facility name	Country	Production [vehicles/yr]	Withdrawal per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]	Consumption per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]
USA car	USA	100,000	4.00	1.00
USA Truck	USA	200,000	4.00	1.00
India car	India	50,000	4.00	1.00
India Truck	India	100,000	4.00	1.00
Germany Car	Germany	200,000	2.50	0.63
Mexico Car	Mexico	50,000	4.00	1.00
China Car	China	50,000	4.00	1.00
China Truck	China	100,000	4.00	1.00
Japan Car	Japan	100,000	4.00	1.00
Japan Truck	Japan	200,000	4.00	1.00
South Korea Car	South Korea	500,000	4.00	1.00
Brazil Car	Brazil	50,000	4.00	1.00
Brazil Truck	Brazil	100,000	4.00	1.00
UK Super Luxury	United Kingdom	2000	55.00	13.75

Table 3. Energy Intensities from various automakers CSR’s in MWh/Vehicle.

Automaker	Total energy consumption per vehicle [MWh/vehicle]	Electricity consumption per vehicle [MWh/vehicle]	Reference
GM	2.19		GM (2014a)
Volkswagen	2.21	1.08	VW (2014) and Dooley, Kyle, and Davies (2013)
Ford	2.44		Ford (2014a)
Nissan/Renault	2.19	1.00	Nissan-Renault (2014)
Peugeot SA	1.46	0.80	Peugeot (2014)
BMW	2.40	1.06	BMW (2014b)
Average	2.15	0.99

Table 4. Water consumption and withdrawal values for electricity sources in m³/MWh.

Electricity source	Water consumption (Semmens, Bras, and Guldberg 2014)	Water withdrawal (Dooley, Kyle, and Davies 2013)
Coal	0.871	80.90
Natural gas	0.547	25.23
Nuclear	1.643	98.59
Hydroelectric	17.000	0
Solar (PV)	0.023	0.02

Table 5. Electricity resource profile for selected countries (IEA 2012).

	Coal (%)	Natural Gas (%)	Nuclear (%)	Solar (PV) (%)	Wind (%)	Hydro (%)
Brazil	2.6	8.5	2.9	0.0	0.9	75.2
China	75.8	1.7	2.0	0.1	1.9	17.5
Germany	45.6	12.3	15.8	4.2	8.0	4.4
India	71.1	8.3	2.9	0.2	2.5	11.2
Japan	29.3	38.4	1.5	0.7	0.5	8.1
Mexico	11.7	51.4	3.0	0.0	1.2	10.8
South Korea	44.8	20.9	28.1	0.2	0.2	1.4
UK	39.6	27.5	19.4	0.3	5.4	2.3
USA	38.3	29.5	18.7	0.2	3.3	7.0

Table 6. HAC facilities indirect water withdrawal and consumption due to electricity.

Facility	Total electricity per facility [MWh/year]	Total indirect withdrawal per facility [m^3/year]	Total indirect withdrawal per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]	Total indirect consumption per facility [m^3/year]	Total indirect consumption per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]
USA Car	98,500	5,597,981	55.98	198,915	1.99
USA Truck	197,000	11,195,962	55.98	397,830	1.99
India Car	49,250	3,076,605	61.53	130,078	2.60
India Truck	98,500	6,153,210	61.53	260,156	2.60
Germany Car	197,000	10,942,563	54.71	430,950	2.15
Mexico Car	49,250	1,248,333	24.97	112,220	2.24
China Car	49,250	3,135,674	62.71	181,830	3.64
China Truck	98,500	6,271,349	62.71	363,655	3.64
Japan Car	98,500	3,440,265	34.40	195,037	1.95
Japan Truck	197,000	6,880,531	34.40	390,067	1.95
South Korea Car	492,500	34,092,550	68.19	613,102	1.23
Brazil Car	49,250	348,295	6.97	635,178	12.70
Brazil Truck	98,500	696,590	6.97	1,270,347	12.70
UK Luxury Car	1,970	114,414	57.21	2,485	1.24

Table 7. Results for indirect water consumption by electricity from (Semmens, Bras, and Guldberg 2014).

Automaker	[m^3/vehicle]
BMW	1.91
Chrysler	3.32
Daimler	3.69
Ford	2.41
GM	1.80
Honda	2.27
Hyundai	2.25
Kia	1.24
Mazda	2.12
Nissan	1.54
Volkswagen	1.77
Average	2.21

Table 8. USA car compared with solar powered car facility.

Facility	Total indirect withdrawal for electricity [m^3/year]	Total indirect consumption for electricity [m^3/year]	Total indirect withdrawal per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]	Total indirect consumption per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]
USA Car	5,597,981	198,915	55.98	1.99
Solar Country Car	1,980	1980	0.02	0.02
Difference	5,596,001	196,935	55.96	1.97

Table 9. Average water withdrawal in m³ per capita per year.

Country	[m^3/capita]
Brazil	376.7
China	406.0
Germany	386.5
India	615.4
Japan	713.2
Korea, Republic of	549.0
Mexico	664.5
United Kingdom	212.9
USA	1575.0

Table 10. Facility production, workers, withdrawals and employee water factor.

Facility name	Production [vehicles]	Total withdrawal [m³]	Withdrawal per vehicle [m³]	No. of workers	Production/ year/worker	Withdrawal by workers [m³]	Employee water factor
USA Car	100,000	400,000	4.00	2222	45.0	3,500,000	8.75
USA Truck	200,000	800,000	4.00	4444	45.0	7,000,000	8.75
India Car	50,000	200,000	4.00	833	60.0	512,833	2.56
India Truck	100,000	400,000	4.00	1667	60.0	1,025,667	2.56
Germany Car	200,000	500,000	2.50	5714	35.0	2,208,571	4.42
Mexico Car	50,000	200,000	4.00	1111	45.0	738,333	3.69
China Car	50,000	200,000	4.00	833	60.0	338,333	1.69
China Truck	100,000	400,000	4.00	1667	60.0	676,667	1.69
Japan Car	100,000	400,000	4.00	1667	60.0	1,188,667	2.97
Japan Truck	200,000	800,000	4.00	3333	60.0	1,188,667	2.97
South Korea Car	500,000	2,000,000	4.00	8333	60.0	4,575,000	2.29
Brazil Car	50,000	200,000	4.00	3333	15.0	1,255,667	6.28
Brazil Truck	100,000	400,000	4.00	6667	15.0	2,511,333	6.28
UK Super Luxury	2000	110,000	55.00	4000	3.0	851,600	7.74

Table 11. HAC facilities indirect electricity withdrawal factor results.

Facility	Indirect withdrawal per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]	Direct withdrawal per vehicle [m^3/vehicle]	Indirect electricity withdrawal factor (IEWF)
USA Car	55.98	4.00	13.99
USA Truck	55.98	4.00	13.99
India Car	61.53	4.00	15.38
India Truck	61.53	4.00	15.38
Germany Car	54.71	2.50	21.89
Mexico Car	24.97	4.00	6.24
China Car	62.71	4.00	15.68
China Truck	62.71	4.00	15.68
Japan Car	34.40	4.00	8.60
Japan Truck	34.40	4.00	8.60
South Korea Car	68.19	4.00	17.05
Brazil Car	6.97	4.00	1.74
Brazil Truck	6.97	4.00	1.74
UK Luxury Car	57.21	55.00	1.04

Table 12. Withdrawal by sector by region (Aquastat 2016).

Region	Municipal (%)	Industrial (%)	Agriculture (%)
Africa	15	4	81
North America	13	47	40
Central America	23	18	59
South America	17	12	71
Asia	9	10	81
Europe	21	54	25
Oceania	20	15	65

Figure 1. Water Withdrawal Profiles by Sector for Selected Countries (from FAO Aquastat (FAO 2016))

Table 13. EWF values for different sectors of withdrawal for HAC facilities.

Facility name	Employee Water Factor (EWF)	EWF agricultural	EWF municipal	EWF industrial
USA Car	8.75	3.5	1.2	4.0
USA Truck	8.75	3.5	1.2	4.0
India Car	2.56	2.3	2.1	1.9
India Truck	2.56	2.3	0.2	0.1
Germany Car	4.42	0.0	0.7	3.7
Mexico Car	3.69	2.8	0.5	0.3
China Car	1.69	1.1	0.2	0.4
China Truck	1.69	1.1	0.2	0.4
Japan Car	2.97	1.8	0.6	0.5
Japan Truck	2.97	1.8	0.6	0.5
South Korea Car	2.29	1.4	0.6	0.3
Brazil Car	6.28	3.8	1.4	1.1
Brazil Truck	6.28	3.8	1.4	1.1
UK Super Luxury	7.74	0.7	4.5	2.6

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