So far, using the data provided in the paper provided by MotoTribologist, and looking at Lithium Ion batteries, we have the following:
Code:
Cradle-to-Gate Life-Cycle Energy (MJ/kg) Results for Five Battery Systems(a)
Battery Note Emp Ercycl Emnf Ectg Reference
Li-ion
NCA-G 93.3 4.8 32 125.3 Ishihara et al. (website)
LMO-G 113 3.6 30 143 Ishihara et al. ( website)
NCA-G 53–80 25–37b 96–144 149-224 Rydh and Sanden 2005
112.9 91.5 204.4 GREET 2.7
NCA-G 222c Umicore Slide/Virgin Materials
NCA-G 62.9c Umicore Slide/Recycled Materials
(a) - See Section 3.1.4 for Li-ion nomenclature; Ercycl denotes energy to recycle the battery; see Table A-1 for megajoule/watt-hour values.
b - Reported as material production energy using recycled materials.
c - These values are per cell
The Ectg column is the one we are interested in, which gives us the Cradle-to-Gate production energy in MJ/kg for the various types of Li-ion batteries.
And from the previous table, a Li-ion battery for EV applications has a Specific Energy of 75Wh/kg.
They then later go on to state:
Quote:
A summary of PEj values for materials that comprise Li-ion batteries appears in Table 9. An inspection of the table reveals a considerable dearth of energy information on Li-ion battery materials, whether for anodes, cathodes, or electrolytes. More specifically, PEj data for Li-ion battery constituent materials, such as LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 and most of the other materials listed in Table 8, are sorely lacking. More information is needed about the reaction pathways from the commodity materials to the materials that make up the battery components listed in Table 8. Because of this, we are unable to estimate the material production energy for these batteries. Nevertheless, some energy data for these batteries are listed in Table 2.
Which is unfortunate.
Then also:
Quote:
3.2.4 Lithium-Ion Batteries
The manufacturing of these batteries consists of a number of processes that include:
(1) preparation of cathode pastes and cathodes from purchased lithium metal oxides, LiMexOy, (Me = Ni, Co, Fe, Mn), binders, aluminum strips, and solvent;
(2) preparation of anodes from graphite pastes and copper strips;
(3) assembly of anodes and cathodes separated by a separator strip;
(4) addition of electrolyte;
(5) charging of cells; and
(6) final assembly.
For more detail, see a discussion by Gaines and Cuenca (2000) on these manufacturing steps. As seen in Table 2, Li-ion Emnf values are quite variable. Indeed, a review of the table reveals a low set of values around 30 MJ/kg and a high set greater than 100 MJ/kg. The low set is based on the work of Ishihara (website), and the high set is from Europe and North America. Ishihara (1996) details the manufacturing processes, including the production of solvent, LiNiO2, LiPF6, indirect effects, and assembly. On the other hand, the sources of the data in the high set provide no process detail.
Quote:
Another trend, which can be estimated from Table 2, is the manufacturing stage’s share of Ectg. It is as follows: (1) about a third for PbA and Na/S, (2) about half for NiMH and NiCd, and (3) inconclusive for Li-ion batteries due to the breadth of the distribution of values. Generally speaking, better descriptions of current battery manufacturing processes are needed.
We then get to the emissions section of the paper. Now, this paper covers VOC, CO, NOx, PM (g/kg), SOx, CH4, N2O and of course CO2 as per the opening paper, measured in kg/kg, which is different from the g/mile mentioned in the article at the beginning of this thread.
Looking just at Li-ion, we see a range of 7.2-18.2kg of CO2 per kg. Going by the original article, we see a lifecycle defined as 160,000 miles. We could break that into grams per kg per mile I believe (bear with me here, I've only had one coffee this AM):
The range would be 0.045 - 0.11375g/kg of battery per mile I believe.
We could then find how much a typical vehicle battery pack weighs (in kg) to see our effective range, based on the limited data available for Li-ion, of CO2 emitted during the manufacture of that battery.
My concern, which is highlighted in the paper via the quotes I've provided is the very limited data on the various aspects of the manufacture and materials extraction for Li-ion batteries, which, as they've noted, greatly impacts the ability for there to be a proper and complete analysis performed.