Life Cycle Assessment of a Lithium‐Ion Battery Vehicle Pack

Abstract

Electric vehicles 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 goal of this study is 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 processbased attributional life cycle assessment. The environmental impacts were analyzed using midpoint indicators. The global warming potential of the 26.6 kilowatt-hour (kWh), 253 kg battery pack was found to be 4.6 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalents. Regardless of impact category, the production impacts of the battery are caused mainly by the production chains of battery cell manufacture, the positive electrode paste, and the negative current collector. The robustness of the study was tested through sensitivity analysis, and results were compared with preceding studies. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the most effective approach to reduce 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 are 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 improved understanding of environmental burdens pertaining to lithium ion traction batteries.3

Nanotechnology for environmentally sustainable electromobility

“…Furthermore, LMR also has a high voltage and specific capacity that allows for a significant increase in energy density over current commercially available cathode materials 102 . Despite these advantages, poor rate capability 103 result in low power density, whereas thermal safety issues 37 and voltage fade 104 result in poor lifetime and stability, all of which complicate its commercial introduction for EVs. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) is found in nature as the mineral triphylite 105 and has low exposure risks or hazards 86 .…”

“…As a bulk material, LFP has moderate electric potential 47 , outstanding thermal stability 52 , and excellent cycling performance 106 , but its two-phase reaction mechanism, with low ion diffusion rate and very low electronic conductivity 107 , makes it difficult to reach capacities close to the theoretical limit 52 . However, research found that in nanoparticle form, the material could produce stable cycling much closer to its theoretical capacity because the phase diagram is changed and the reaction proceeds via a metastable single-phase mechanism 37 . This development increased the material's energy- 52 and power 33 densities, but its energy density remained inferior to that of other commercially available cathode materials such as NMC 47,48 .…”

A new hybrid method for reducing the gap between WTW and LCA in the carbon footprint assessment of electric vehicles

“…These varieties were not mainly due to different Li-ion chemistries but due to different modelling approaches (top down vs. bottom up). In a more recent and comprehensive study, Ellingsen et al (2014) reviewed results between 38 and 338 kg CO 2 eq/kWh for the production of the battery, and added 172-487 kg CO 2 eq/kWh from their own study. It was decided here to calculate a mean from Ellingsen et al's (2014) data giving a figure of 168 kg CO 2 eq/kWh.…”

A Framework for Incorporating EROI into Electrical Storage

“…This study uses data from Ellingsen et al (2014), and is based on primary data for a traction battery cell. Ellingsen's medium 'ASV' value of 960 MJ/kWh was used, which is representative of the broader literature [e.g.…”