Xin Sun

University of Groningen | RUG · Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG)

Reuse and recycling of retired electric vehicle (EV) batteries offer a sustainable waste management approach but face decision-making challenges. Based on the process-based life cycle assessment method, we present a strategy to optimize pathways of retired battery treatments economically and environmentally. The strategy is applied to various reuse...

Electric vehicle (EV) purchasing decisions are significantly influenced by costs. Focusing on China, this research comprehensively examines the levelized costs of EV recharging (including charging and swapping) at the provincial level considering various factors, including charging locations, time of charging, and power levels. Results indicate tha...

Manufacturing complexities and uncertainties have impeded the transition from material prototypes to commercial batteries, making prototype verification critical to quality assessment. A fundamental challenge involves deciphering intertwined chemical processes to characterize degradation patterns and their quantitative relationship with battery per...

Existing research on the security of the supply of critical materials for clean energy generally aggregates information at the country level, a practice that obscures the extensive role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the production of critical materials. FDI refers to an ownership stake in a company or project by an overseas investor. Here w...

Drawing on international panel data from 2000 to 2019, we examine the structural characteristics of the global lithium trade network and investigate the impact of renewable energy consumption on lithium trade patterns from an industrial chain perspective. The findings indicate that different countries play different roles and hold different central...

Flying cars, essentially vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL), are an emerging, disruptive technology that is expected to reshape future transportation. VTOLs can be powered by battery electric, fuel cell, or internal combustion engine, which point to entirely different needs for industry expertise, research & development, supply chain, and...

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is the key technology for climate change mitigation. The sustainability of LIB supply chain has caused widespread concern since the material utilization efficiency of LIB supply chain has not been well investigated. This study aims to fill this research gap by conducting a dynamic material flow analysis of lithium in China...

Xin Sun is a PhD candidate at the School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University and a predoctoral fellow with the Environment and Natural Resources Program at the Belfer Center, Harvard University. He holds a BS degree in automobile engineering and a BS degree in business administration from Tsinghua University, China. His research focuses on...

Electric flying cars are attracting global attentions considering their ability to provide high-efficiency point-to-point transportation. However, there is a lack of understanding on the environmental impacts from electric flying cars. In this study, by modeling flying processes and sizing components of flying cars, the well-to-wheel CO2 emissions...

Battery second use, which extracts additional values from retired electric vehicle batteries through repurposing them in energy storage systems, is promising in reducing the demand for new batteries. However, the potential scale of battery second use and the consequent battery conservation benefits are largely unexplored. This study bridges such a...

Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) represent one important pillar for transport low-carbon transition. While FCV supply chain has received growing attentions, its regional evolvement mechanism remains unclear, impeding the insights into future supply chain development and the measures needed to cope with possible challenges. To fill such a research gap, thi...

Platinum group metals (PGMs) are important catalytic materials for producing emission after-treatment devices in internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and fuel cells in fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). There are high resource and technical barriers along the supply chain of PGM catalysts, for which assessing the associated supply risks is essential...

Natural graphite is often regarded as a critical mineral because it is currently the most widely used battery anode material (BAM) for commercial lithium-ion batteries. However, studies on evaluating the criticality of natural graphite are still lacking, especially how to evaluate its substitutability from an environmental perspective. Emergy is de...

The on-going COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns cast significant impacts on global economy in the short run. Their impact on stability of global electric vehicles (EVs) supply chain and thus our climate ambition in the long run, however, remains hitherto largely unexplored. We aim to address this gap based on an integrated model framework,...

Flying cars are expected to play an important role in future transportation, considering their ability to transform transport ecology and improve transportation efficiency. However, the optimal choice of propulsion systems for flying cars is still unclear due to the lack of studies on the environmental and economic impacts of flying cars considerin...

Critical resources are key for low carbon development. International trade in critical resources is commonplace. It is important to clarify country roles within this trade network so that resource supply risk can be mitigated and low carbon industries can be supported. This study investigates global trade of typical ores and chemical compounds for...

Graphite is considered a critical mineral because of its importance to clean energy transition and global supply concentration. This critical role is evident for electric vehicles that depends on lithium-ion batteries using graphite as anode material. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of natural graphite due to its booming economy...

Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have the potential to contribute significantly to improving air quality and addressing climate concerns in the future. However, due to the highly dynamic technology and manufacturing developments, there is a lack of understanding of the state-of-the-art global FCV industry chain and associated supply risks. This study fill...

The fast development of electric vehicle market globally leads to highly dynamic critical metal demands, which brings potential resource and supply chain sustainability challenges. In this chapter, we project future lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese demands driven by global electric vehicle deployment under different battery technology scenario...

Neodymium is one of the most important enabling materials for next‐generation clean technologies, especially electric vehicles and wind turbines. As the world's largest producer of rare earth minerals, China dominates the global neodymium supply and a considerable amount of primary neodymium resources are from illegal mining. Many studies have been...

Manganese is a necessary and irreplaceable metal resource for the steelmaking industry. The essentiality and non-substitutability make the vulnerability to supply restriction of manganese nonnegligible. With this concern, this study was conducted to present a global trade-linked material flow analysis (MFA) model of manganese for the year of 2017 t...

The majority of transport electrification studies, examining the demand and sustainability of critical metals, have focused on light-duty vehicles. Heavy-duty vehicles have often been excluded from the research scope due to their smaller vehicle stock and slower pace of electrification. This study fills this research gap by evaluating the lithium r...

Fuel cell technology is the key to transport low-carbon transition. It depends on the catalysis from platinum-group metals, the rarest metals on Earth. However, due to the limited reserve, it is critical to evaluate whether global platinum resources can meet the increasing demand. This paper aims to account whether current platinum resources can su...

This study quantifies the energy, environmental, economic, and resource co-benefits and risks of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement for China’s passenger vehicle fleet. A bottom-up model is established, which can address energy, environmental, economic and resource impacts from the passenger vehicle fleet within one unified framework. The res...

To assess changes in the lithium supply chain resulting from the development of the electric vehicle industry and corresponding impacts, this study established a regional dynamic flow model of the entire anthropogenic life cycle of lithium in China from 2000 to 2050. Based on historical data, this model provides output data including production, co...

Lithium has been widely recognized as an essential metal for next-generation clean technologies. With the aim of identifying opportunities for improving lithium resource efficiency and security, this study establishes a long-term trade-linked material flow analysis framework to analyze lithium flow throughout the technological life cycle and across...

Lithium is an indispensable ingredient for the next-generation clean technologies. With the aim of identifying opportunities to improve lithium resource efficiency, this study establishes a trade-linked material flow analysis framework to analyze the lithium flow both along its life cycle on the national level and international trade on the global...