From the Swedish Environmental Research Institute
A more recent study from the Swedish Environmental Research Institute to add to our research on the topic of EVs. I wonder how this would compare to what the Argonne National Labs do in the latest GREE model?
The Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Lithium-Ion Batteries
https://www.ivl.se/download/18.5922...CO2+emissions+from+lithium+ion+batteries+.pdf
Summary
This report presents the findings from the Swedish Energy Agency and the Swedish Transport
Administration commissioned study on the Life Cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas
emissions from lithium-ion batteries. It does not include the use phase of the batteries.
The study consists of a review of available life cycle assessments on lithium-ion batteries for lightduty
vehicles, and the results from the review are used to draw conclusions on how the production
stage impacts the greenhouse gas emissions. The report also focuses on the emissions from each
individual stage of the battery production, including; mining, material refining, refining to battery
grade, and assembly of components and battery.
The report is largely structured based on a number of questions. The questions are divided in two
parts, one focusing on short-term questions and the second on more long-term questions. To sum
up the results of this review of life cycle assessments of lithium-ion batteries we used the questions
as base.
Part 1 – Review the iteratively specified chemistries and answer the following short-term questions
related to the battery production
a) How large are the energy use and greenhouse emissions related to the production of
lithium-ion batteries?
The results from different assessments vary due to a number of factors including battery design,
inventory data, modelling and manufacturing. Based on our review greenhouse gas emissions of
150-200 kg CO2-eq/kWh battery looks to correspond to the greenhouse gas burden of current battery
production. Energy use for battery manufacturing with current technology is about 350 – 650
MJ/kWh battery.
b) How large are the greenhouse gas emissions related to different production steps including
mining, processing and assembly/manufacturing?
Mining and refining seem to contribute a relatively small amount to the current life cycle of the
battery. It is nearly independent of the cell chemistry NMC, LFP or LMO calculated per kWh
capacity. The largest part of the emissions, around 50%, is currently from battery (including cell)
manufacturing, but if the material processing to battery grade is viewed as one total it is in the same
order of magnitude. The reviewed studies vary when it comes to the line between these areas and
transparency is lacking.
When it comes to battery components, the electrodes look to be the dominating contributors. Most of
the other components vary in impact between studies, but electronics seem to have a high impact as
well.
c) What differences are there in greenhouse gas emissions between different production
locations?
This review shows that assuming the current level of emissions from manufacturing, the electricity
mix of the production location greatly impacts the total result. This is due to the fact that the
manufacturing is a large part of the life cycle, and that most of the production energy is electricity.
Since production location currently is based on labor cost it can be important to promote a choice
based on environmental factors as well. Legislation can be one way to ensure this by giving incentive
to choose production location or electricity type based on environmental factors.
d) Do emissions scale with the battery weight and kWh in a linear or non-linear fashion?
Very little data are available on this subject, but what data there are points to a near-linear scale up
of greenhouse gas emissions when the battery size increases. Uncertainty factors include the impact
from the passive components like electronics, as well as the scaling of the production energy with
pack size in future large scale production. Additionally, the pack size is only one factor that varies
when the electric range is increased. Effects on driveline, production and production volumes must
also be assessed.
...