Literature data for vehicle life cycle water consumption are limited and contradictory; there are no published estimates of vehicle life cycle water withdrawal. To place future discussions of sustainable mobility on a firmer technical basis, we report the results of a cradle-to-grave assessment of water withdrawal and water consumption for the gasoline internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV) variants of the 2012 Ford Focus. U.S. average life cycle water withdrawal and consumption of 531 and 131 cubic meters (m(3)), respectively, for a lifetime driving distance of 160,000 miles are estimated for the Focus ICEV using E10 gasoline. Employing our upper bound of water use in oil refinery operations and corn and ethanol production increases the life cycle withdrawal and consumption to 1,570 and 761 m(3), respectively. The U.S. average life cycle water withdrawal for the Focus BEV is 3,770 m(3) (7 times that for the ICEV, reflecting the large volume of cooling water required during electricity generation), whereas the water consumption is 170 m(3) (comparable to that for the ICEV). Vehicle use is the most significant phase of the life cycle with fuel production, accounting for 49% of water withdrawal and 82% of water consumption for the ICEV. For the BEV, fuel (electricity) production accounts for 92% of life cycle water withdrawal and 85% of consumption. The results highlight the importance of renewable and sustainable fuels and increased vehicle energy efficiency in providing sustainable mobility.