Assessment of Selected Slovak Car Manufacturers Using Environmental Performance Indicators

Drozd, Martin and Hauptvogl, Martin (2026) Assessment of Selected Slovak Car Manufacturers Using Environmental Performance Indicators. ECOCYCLES, 12 (1). pp. 14-25. ISSN 2416-2140

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Abstract

The Slovak automotive sector is a major contributor to the national economy and hosts several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with diverse production profiles. Increasing environmental and sustainability commitments have reshaped production strategies and accelerated the adoption of cleaner technologies. Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs) provide a quantitative basis for assessing plant-level environmental efficiency and benchmarking against Best Available Techniques (BAT) defined in the BAT Reference Document for Surface Treatment using Solvents (BAT STS BREF). This study presents a quantitative, observational comparison of plant- and paint-shop-level EPIs for three OEMs operating in Slovakia in 2024. The analysis covers energy consumption, carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions, volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, water consumption, wastewater generation, and waste generation, normalised per complete vehicle and, where relevant, per painted vehicle body and per square metre of coated surface. Substantial inter-factory variability was observed, with paint-shop operations identified as the primary driver of performance differences. OEM 2 demonstrated the strongest overall environmental performance, recording the lowest CO2e emissions (0.08 t CO2e·veh-1), lowest VOC emissions (8.66 g VOC·m-2), and relatively low water use and wastewater generation, while meeting most BAT benchmarks for energy (0.46 MWh·veh-1), water per coated body, and VOC emissions. However, OEM 2 also generated the highest plant-level waste (186 kg·veh-1). In contrast, OEM 3 exhibited the weakest performance, with the highest energy consumption (1.35 MWh·veh-1), plant-level water use (3.10 m3·veh-1), and wastewater discharges (plant-level: 2.81 m3·veh-1; paint shop: 1.55 m3·veh-1), and failed to meet BAT benchmarks for paint-shop waste generation (26.05 kg·veh-1) and water use (1.9 m3·veh-1). Although energy use per painted body and VOC emissions remained within BAT-associated levels, none of the OEMs complied with indicative BAT benchmarks for waste generation. This study provides the first cross-OEM, plant-level EPI benchmarking of the Slovak automotive sector and highlights the need for harmonised, industry-wide EPI reporting to support transparency and continuous improvement.

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