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Life Cycle Assessment of a Lithium-Ion Battery Vehicle Pack
Abstract
Electric vehicles (EVs) have no tailpipe emissions, but the production of their batteries leads to environmental burdens. In order to avoid problem shifting, a life cycle perspective should be applied in the environmental assessment of traction batteries. The aim of this study was to provide a transparent inventory for a lithium-ion nickel-cobalt-manganese traction battery based on primary data and to report its cradle-to-gate impacts. The study was carried out as a process-based attributional life cycle assessment. The environmental impacts were analyzed using midpoint indicators. The global warming potential of the 26.6 kilowatt-hour (kWh), 253-kilogram battery pack was found to be 4.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. Regardless of impact category, the production impacts of the battery were caused mainly by the production chains of battery cell manufacture, positive electrode paste, and negative current collector. The robustness of the study was tested through sensitivity analysis, and results were compared with preceding studies. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the most effective approach to reducing climate change emissions would be to produce the battery cells with electricity from a cleaner energy mix. On a per-kWh basis, cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions of the battery were within the range of those reported in preceding studies. Contribution and structural path analysis allowed for identification of the most impact-intensive processes and value chains. This article provides an inventory based mainly on primary data, which can easily be adapted to subsequent EV studies, and offers an improved understanding of environmental burdens pertaining to lithium-ion traction batteries.
... Investigations in energy supply typically encompass the energy mix during the vehicle's use stage and the battery manufacturing process (Ellingsen et al., 2013;Majeau-Bettez et al., 2011). Some OEM studies (e.g., Mitsubishi motors, 2019; Scania, 2021; Volvo Cars, 2021) explore future electricity grid mix scenarios utilizing scenarios published in the World Energy Outlook by the IEA. ...
... The second category addresses the lifespan of EVs expressed as total distance driven (Ellingsen et al., 2013;Faria et al., 2014). Different mileage estimates are considered to check the sensitivity of the results on this assumed parameter (e.g. ...
It is widely acknowledged that unharmonized methodological and data choices in life cycle assessments (LCAs) can limit comparability and complicate decision-making, ultimately hindering their effectiveness in guiding the rapid transition to electric mobility in Europe. The electric mobility sector aims to harmonize these assumptions and choices to improve comparability and better support decision-making. To support these efforts, this article aims to review the LCA practices across various sources in order to identify where key differences in assumptions, methodological approaches, and data selection occur in relevant LCA topics. In addition to this primary objective, we highlight certain practices that could serve as starting points for ongoing harmonization attempts, pointing out topics where it is challenging to do so. Our results showed that cradle-to-grave system boundary is the most commonly adopted in vehicle and traction battery LCAs, with maintenance and capital goods often excluded. The distance-based functional unit is dominant. Choices in Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) showed the greatest diversity and need for harmonization. Data quality and availability vary significantly by life cycle stage, with no standardized data collection approach in place. A lack of primary data is most prominent in the raw material acquisition and end of life (EoL) life cycle stages. Electricity consumption is a key topic in the EV sector, with major debates surrounding location-based versus market-based and static versus dynamic modeling. Multifunctionality problems are vaguely defined and resolved in the literature. For EoL multifunctionality, cut-off and avoided burden are prevalent, while allocation is common upstream. Impact assessments primarily follow the ReCiPe and CML-IA methods, with climate change, acidification, photochemical ozone formation, and eutrophication being the most reported impact categories. Systematic uncertainty propagation is rare in interpretations, with sensitivity analyses typically focusing on energy consumption, total mileage, and battery recycling rates. Overall, the review showed a big variation in assumptions and choices in EV LCA studies, particularly in the LCI stage. Among the discussed topics, we identified multifunctionality and electricity modeling as particularly contentious.
... LCA is conducted on critical automotive components, and specific results on resource consumption and environmental impacts are obtained. As a core component of battery electric vehicles, the power battery has a key influence on the resource consumption and environmental emission of the whole vehicle; many scholars have performed quantitative analysis on its processing, manufacturing, usage, and recycling phases [4][5][6][7][8]. Additionally, several scholars have applied the LCA to study automotive components, including the permanent magnet synchronous drive motor in electric vehicles, automotive tires, triangular glass windows, and seat frame assemblies [9][10][11][12]. ...
To study the environmental impact of automobile components, life cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted to study the environmental impact of instrument cross beams made of steel and magnesium alloy crossbeams. Comparative environmental impact analyses of both instrument crossbeams are conducted through parametric analysis, scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis, and future forecasting in GaBi10. The results show that global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), and photochemical ozone generation potential (POCP) of steel instrument crossbeams are better than those of magnesium alloy crossbeams at a running mileage of 150,000 km, with 534,400 km as a turning point for GWP. The sensitivity analysis shows that a 10% reduction in raw material usage would lead to a 1.65% decrease in GWP for the steel beam and a 6.46% decrease for the magnesium alloy beam. Similarly, a 10% reduction in operating power would result in a 6.83% decrease in GWP for the steel beam and a 3.12% decrease for the magnesium alloy crossbeam. Furthermore, a future scenario analysis was conducted in GaBi, using China's projected electricity emissions data for 2025, 2030, and 2040. The results show that, under these scenarios, the GWP reduction for steel crossbeams is more than double that of magnesium alloy crossbeams, indicating a significantly more significant reduction. This paper provides a theoretical basis for research on the environmental impact of automobile lightweighting.
... A group of fitting lines describing the experimental data of the percentage of the battery capacity loss, batt_loss (%), with respect to the cumulative amount of the charging and discharging capacity, ℎ _accum (Ah), in different temperature conditions is shown in Figure 8 [46]. ...
The development of energy-saving vehicles is an important measure to deal with environmental pollution and the energy crisis. On this basis, more accurate and efficient energy management strategies can further tap into the energy-saving potential and energy sustainability of vehicles. The equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) has shown the ability to provide a real-time sub-optimal fuel efficiency performance. However, when taking the different market prices of fuel and electricity cost as well as battery longevity cost into account, this method is not very accurate for total operational economic evaluation. So, as an improved scheme, the instantaneous cost minimization strategy is proposed, where a comprehensive cost function, including the market price of the electricity and fuel as well as the cost of battery aging, is applied as the optimization objective. Simulation results show that the proposed control strategy for series-parallel hybrid electric buses can reduce costs by 41.25% when compared with the conventional engine-driven bus. The approach also impressively improves cost performance over the rule-based strategy and the ECMS. As such, the proposed instantaneous cost minimization strategy is a better choice for hybrid electric vehicle economic evaluation than the other main sub-optimal strategies.
... The production process of lithium-ion batteries has various negative effects on the environment (Majeau-Bettez et al., 2011, Ellingsen et al., 2014, Dunn et al., 2015, Kim et al., 2016, Dai et al., 2019 . The mining and processing of raw materials used in the production of lithium-ion batteries can have significant environmental implications, contributing to climate change, air and water pollution, as well as deforestation, habitat destruction and land degradation. ...
... The research object in this study is an LFP battery pack. According to Gaines et al. [31] and Ellingsen et al. [32] , a single battery pack comprises several distinct components, including battery modules, a battery management system (BMS), a cooling system, and battery packaging. Within this framework, battery cells are consolidated into individual modules. ...
The environmental performance of electric vehicles (EVs) largely depends on their batteries. However, the extraction and production of materials for these batteries present considerable environmental and social challenges. Traditional environmental assessments of EV batteries often lack comprehensive uncertainty analysis, resulting in evaluations that may not be sufficiently accurate or reliable. To address this issue and quantify uncertainties in the evaluation of EV battery production, based on the foreground data of the lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack manufacturing process, the ReCiPe midpoint methodology was adopted to quantify the lifecycle environmental impacts using eleven environmental indicators. Given the parametric uncertainties in the manufacturing process of lithium-iron-phosphate, a Bayesian Monte Carlo analytical method was developed to determine the probability distribution of global warming potential and acidification potential. Local sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the influential factors of selected environmental indicators. Results indicated that battery cell production is the largest contributor to the entire emissions and resource utilization (comprising 63.38% of the production of each battery pack), in which cathode electrode paste and anode current collector manufacturing processes were the two predominant components with the highest environmental burdens. Sensitivity analysis showed that environmental indicators were quite sensitive to different substances in the battery pack. The application of Bayesian Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis effectively reduces the uncertainties in life cycle assessment. This study would contribute to uncertainty quantification towards solid life cycle assessment.
... Multiple studies in the past have dealt with life cycle assessment (LCA) of battery cell production to understand a variety of their impacts, such as energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (see Supplement S4 for an overview about existing LCA studies on LIB cells) (Ambrose & Kendall, 2016;Bawankar et al., 2023;Crenna et al., 2021;Cusenza et al., 2019;Dai et al., 2019;Deng et al., 2017;Ellingsen et al., 2014;Faria et al., 2014;Gutsch & Leker, 2024;Jenu et al., 2020;Kallitsis et al., 2020;Kim et al., 2016;Le Varlet et al., 2020;Majeau-Bettez et al., 2011;Marques et al., 2019;Notter et al., 2010;Qian et al., 2023;Shen et al., 2023;Sun et al., 2020;Winjobi et al., 2022;Zackrisson et al., 2010;Zhao & You, 2019). ...
The transition toward electrification of transportation has resulted in a rapid increase in the demand for battery cells. While this demand is currently being met through the use of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), alternative batteries like sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) and solid‐state batteries (SSBs) are emerging as relevant alternatives. In this study, we analyze, based on current electric vehicle electrode stack designs, the environmental impact of LIB cells, SIB cells, and SSB cells. The life cycle assessment results from this cradle‐to‐gate study show that for LIB cell production today, ∼58–92 kgCO2‐eq are emitted per kWhcell and ∼296–624 kWhCED/kWhcell of primary energy is required. In SIB cell production, ∼75–87 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell is emitted, and in SSB cell production, ∼88–130 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell, depending on their specific electrode stack configuration. The results demonstrate that LFP (lithium–iron–phosphate) cells require the least energy for production across all battery types under analysis. Furthermore, the findings indicate that, in terms of global warming potential (GWP), LFP and NMC900 (nickel–manganese–cobalt) cells are the most sustainable battery types, at least when focusing solely on battery cell production and neglecting subsequent use phases. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that by optimizing the cell designs and their production, the environmental impact of battery cell production can be reduced in the short term by up to −38%. This allows the production of LFP battery cells with a low GWP of ∼37 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell and NMC900 cells with ∼44 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell. Moreover, there is considerable room for improvement in other major LIB cell types. This article met the requirements for a gold‐gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.
The exponentially growing market for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is driving the development of more environmentally benign processes for producing lithium carbonate, a key precursor. Extracting lithium(i) from brine is a cost-effective method, particularly in the Lithium Triangle in South America, including the Atacama Desert in Chile. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the environmental impacts of lithium(i) production by establishing a comprehensive life cycle inventory (LCI) with data from modelling, literature, technical reports and the Ecoinvent database. Information about evaporation rates from Atacama salars, the performance of the northern Chile electrical grid fuel mix and present waste management processes were analysed to establish the water balance, water footprint (WF), water scarcity footprint (WSF) and to estimate in Aspen Plus and Sphera the environmental performance of the battery-grade lithium carbonate production process. The results predicted significant environmental impacts associated with production of input chemicals such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), as well as with energy conversion from the carbon intensive electrical supply in northern Chile. The waste dumps and surface impoundments required for the production process did not result in significant leachate infiltration, although considerable land areas are occupied. The modelling and analysis results highlighted the importance of accurate brine evaporation rates on the process water balance estimation and on the conventional manufacturing process emissions; insufficient evaporation rates increased the water footprint of chemical production processes. The water resource stress in the arid Atacama region was evident from predicted water balances, WFs and WSFs, emphasising the necessity to innovate less time-consuming and water-conserving processes to increase sustainability.
Most vehicles presently use batteries for energy storage, but there are vehicle designs in which ultracapacitors alone or in combination with batteries can increase the efficiency of the vehicle and in addition lead to significantly longer battery cycle life. Ultracapacitors can be used alone in charge sustaining hybrid vehicles (HEVs) if the energy storage requirement is less than 150Wh. Simulations show that when ultracapacitors are used alone in HEVs, the roundtrip efficiency of the energy storage is 95-98% and the engine efficiency in on/off operation can be maintained near the peak efficiency value. Vehicle simulations were also run for plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) using advanced batteries with high energy density (>300 Wh/kg). The simulations were run with the batteries alone and in combination with ultracapacitors. Simulation results for the electric useage (Wh/mi) and all-electric range and fuel economy (mpg) for the PHEVs using batteries in combination with ultracapacitors and batteries alone are presented. In all cases, the vehicles operate in a more ideal manner using batteries in combination with ultracapacitors than with the batteries alone. In addition, the dynamic stress on the batteries due to high current pulses are greatly reduced using the ultracapacitors. Copyright Form of EVS25.
This paper critically assesses if accessible lithium resources are sufficient for expanded demand due to lithium battery electric vehicles. The ultimately recoverable resources (URR) of lithium globally were estimated at between 19.3 (Case 1) and 55.0 (Case 3) Mt Li; Best Estimate (BE) was 23.6 Mt Li. The Mohr 2010 model was modified to project lithium supply. The Case 1 URR scenario indicates sufficient lithium for a 77% maximum penetration of lithium battery electric vehicles in 2080 whereas supply is adequate to beyond 2200 in the Case 3 URR scenario. Global lithium demand approached a maximum of 857 kt Li/y, with a 100% penetration of lithium vehicles, 3.5 people per car and 10 billion population.
LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NCM) cathode material containing copper was prepared by co-precipitation method. The material was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and galvanostatic cycling. XPS data indicate that surface compositions of the samples containing copper are different from the bare NCM. Copper on surface of particles was enriched, while nickel and lithium content was reduced. The electrochemical performance of NCM was affected by the change of surface compositions. Cycling performance charged to the cutoff voltage of 4.6 V was improved by introducing copper into the material. The effects of copper content on electrochemical behaviors of NCM at 4.5 V were discussed.
LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NCM) with a one-dimensional (1-D) porous structure has been developed as a cathode material for Li-ion batteries. The tube-like 1-D structure consists of interlinked, multi-facet nanoparticles approximately 100–500 nm in diameter. The microscopically porous structure originates from the honeycomb-shaped precursor foaming gel, which serves as a self-template during the stepwise calcination process. The as-prepared NCM presents excellent discharge specific capacities as well as high electrochemical activity and cyclic stability, as proven by the cyclic voltammogram and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
Developments in electric mobility are strongly focussed on lithium-ion batteries entailing a rising interest in lithium by science, industry, and politics. As several studies forecast a strong increase of demand, controversial statements are circulating about the element's future availability. This indicates that a more comprehensive understanding of the global lithium cycle is necessary. Therefore, a study was carried out to describe the global lithium flows by means of a material flow analysis. A static material flow model of lithium comprehending key processes and flows was developed based on data about production, manufacture, and use for the year 2007. The work provides the first global lithium model and shows how supply and demand of lithium as well as flows into the environment are connected on a global scale.Whilst the different data sets used are subject to some inaccuracies, a noticeable discrepancy between production and consumption could be identified, which needs further explanation. The stationary global lithium model developed allows both to explore the recycling possibilities for lithium products and their resulting material flows and to identify important influencing parameters along the lifecycle, which can be used to increase the resource efficiency of lithium. This, in turn, is crucial to improving the resource security for future technologies of such a strategic metal as lithium.
The overall stability of the lithium ion battery separators, under potentially extreme battery operating conditions, will require leading edge design and fabrication techniques to exceed manufacturing and end performance requirements for large scale applications. This paper features the development and performance characterization of an inorganic fiber enhanced composite separator for LIBs. This composite separator can offer a thermally stable alternative for conventional porous polyolefin separators, which shrink significantly at high temperatures. The relative affinities between the electrolyte and the submicron inorganic fibers and the electrolyte and the polyvinylidene fluoride binder ensured a superior wettability of the final separator by the liquid electrolyte. The high porosity and the open porous structure of the composite separator resulted in a good effective ionic conductivity. Coin cells with this composite separator also exhibited stable cycle performance and improved rate capabilities, especially when discharged at rates greater than C/2.