The transport sector as a whole – and within it passenger cars in particular – is currently responsible for a large share of the total greenhouse gas emissions of many developed and developing countries, and a transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is often seen as a key stepping stone towards the de-carbonization of personal mobility. Research is on-going in the continuous development and improvement of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, which may use a range of several different metals in conjunction with lithium itself, such as: lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM), and lithium nickel-cobalt-aluminium oxide (NCA). Within the MARS-EV research project, a new cell chemistry has been developed and tested, using a lithium cobalt phosphate (LCP) formulation. This work presents the first life cycle assessment (LCA) for such LCP batteries, including a newly-developed hydrometallurgical battery recycling process which enables the end-of-life recovery of not only the valuable metals, but also of the graphite component, thereby avoiding the associated CO2 emissions.
Raugei, Marco Winfield, Patricia
Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment\School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics
Year of publication: 2018Date of RADAR deposit: 2019-01-17