Product Sustainability Index

Ford’s European operations pioneered the development of the Product Sustainability Index (PSI), a holistic Design for Sustainability approach that incorporates societal and economic aspects as well as environmental aspects¹ into our lifecycle design approach.

Ford’s PSI tracks eight product attributes identified as key sustainability elements of a vehicle: lifecycle global warming potential (mainly carbon dioxide emissions); lifecycle air-quality potential (other air emissions); the use of sustainable materials (recycled and renewable materials); vehicle interior air quality (including allergy certification from TÜV Rheinland, a product-testing organization); exterior noise impact (drive-by noise); safety, as measured by the European New Car Assessment Program (including for occupants and also pedestrians); mobility capability (seat and luggage capacity relative to vehicle size); and lifecycle ownership costs (full costs for the customer over the first three years).

Since 2002 we have been applying the PSI as a sustainability management tool in the development of all of our major new European vehicles. The PSI process was used to develop the 2006 Ford S-MAX and Galaxy, as well as the 2007 Mondeo, 2008 Kuga, 2009 Fiesta and 2011 Focus. The Focus is the first Ford vehicle developed using the PSI system that is being sold globally. And, the PSI assessment of the Focus was the first PSI study conducted jointly by Ford of Europe and Ford North America. As a result of using the PSI assessment system, all of these models have shown improvements in environmental, social and/or economic performance when compared to the previous models. The chart below shows specific performance and areas of improvement for each model. The PSI will be used on all future products developed by Ford of Europe. Detailed reports on the PSI analysis for these vehicles can be downloaded from Ford of Europe’s website.

In 2012, we applied the PSI tool to various propulsion technologies for a Focus vehicle type. We learned that for a battery electric vehicle (BEV) variant, the carbon footprint of the battery is only about 10 percent of the overall lifecycle CO₂ emissions of a modern gasoline Focus. The carbon footprint of the electricity source used to charge the electric vehicle determines whether or not the Focus BEV is superior to a conventional Focus. In our study, we assumed the Focus BEV used electricity from sources below 400 g of lifecycle CO₂/kWh – such as the electricity currently used in California, Norway, Switzerland and France. Based on this study, we found that the most cost-efficient, low-CO₂ vehicles for customers are the Focus variants powered by the EcoBoost® engine or advanced diesel engines. In 2013, we will continue in this study by assessing plug-in hybrid vehicles.

PSI Assessed Model Performance²

Both Ford’s own internal assessments and external assessments have found the PSI to be an effective lifecycle assessment and design tool. An external study, conducted by experts in lifecycle science and sustainability, found the PSI to be a design and analysis step that provides a full sustainability assessment and meets the requirements of ISO 14040, the international lifecycle assessment standard. The PSI assessments of the 2006 S-MAX and Galaxy vehicles were certified against the ISO rules for Lifecycle Assessment. This certification process also verified the overall PSI methodology used for all subsequent PSI-developed models.