Industries
Carbon footprint of vehicle cleaning and maintenance per service.
The footprint of a vehicle cleaning or maintenance service adds up water, products, energy, spare parts and consumables, waste and travel. Xain calculates it with physical factors per service and vehicle. It is one of the sectors included in the LRQA verification.
What is measured
What goes into the footprint of a vehicle service?
Each service is broken down into what it consumes and what it generates. The usual unit is one service per vehicle.
Water and products
Water use, detergents and other products.
Energy
Equipment, facilities and water heating.
Spare parts and consumables
Filters, lubricants, parts and materials.
Waste and travel
Waste management and team movements.
Companies that clean, maintain or repair vehicles deliver a service many times over, and those who hire it (fleets, hauliers, public bodies, dealerships) are starting to ask for the environmental data. Because it is a service with measurable consumption, it lends itself well to a physical calculation.
How is it calculated?
The service is broken down into a process tree: water and products, energy, spare parts and consumables, waste and travel. Each node carries a physical factor and, if data is missing, the most conservative one is applied and noted. When you provide your actual consumption per service, it replaces the generic data.
Why does consumption data matter?
Because the same wash can use very different amounts of water and energy depending on the installation and the process. An average cannot tell apart those who have invested in cutting that consumption; a physical calculation reflects it. It is the same logic we explain in physical factors versus spend.
What do you receive?
A certificate per type of service, with the value per unit, the calculation boundary, the ISO 14067 standard and a registration number, with traceability. Vehicle cleaning and maintenance are one of the sectors included in the LRQA verification.
And if you hire these services?
They go into your Scope 3 (Category 1). See how it is measured in procurement Scope 3.
What data do you gather to start?
- Type of service and vehicle, and how many services you do per year.
- Water and energy consumption per service, if you measure it.
- Products, spare parts and consumables in use.
- Waste generated and how it is managed.
Common mistakes
- Calculating by invoice. The price of the service does not say how much water or energy it uses.
- Forgetting waste. Oils, filters and containers have their own treatment.
- Giving one average for every vehicle. A car and a lorry do not use the same.
Is your fleet customer asking for it? Tell us what you need.
Frequently asked questions
What companies usually ask before getting started.
Which unit is used?
Most often one service per vehicle (a wash, an inspection). For recurring contracts it can be expressed per period or per fleet.
What data is needed?
The description of the service, water, energy and product consumption per service, spare parts and consumables, waste management and travel.
Does it help with fleet tenders?
Yes, when the tender asks for environmental information about the service. A figure per service, with its method and identifier, is more defensible than an average.
Keep reading
Product footprint
Certify your product’s carbon footprint with an ISO 14067 method verified by LRQA, from your technical documentation, with registration and traceability.
Scope 3 for purchases
Measure purchased-goods Scope 3 (Categories 1 and 2) with physical factors. Xain Insight needs only the ERP spreadsheet: less than 10 minutes.
ISO 14067
ISO 14067 is the standard that sets how to quantify and communicate a product carbon footprint. What it requires, what cradle-to-gate is and how Xain uses it.
LRQA verification
What it means that Xain’s methodology is verified by LRQA: limited assurance under ISO 14064-3, Annex A sectors, and how it is delivered with each certificate.
Tell us what you want to measure
One product, a catalogue or your purchases. We reply with the next steps.
Contact Xain