Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack
This study evaluates the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the life cycle of a battery pack for automotive applications. The analysis employs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for environmental assessment, Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for economic assessment, and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-L...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11031181/ |
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| author | Antonella Accardo Gaia Gentilucci Luca Pontone Ezio Spessa |
| author_facet | Antonella Accardo Gaia Gentilucci Luca Pontone Ezio Spessa |
| author_sort | Antonella Accardo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study evaluates the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the life cycle of a battery pack for automotive applications. The analysis employs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for environmental assessment, Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for economic assessment, and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) for social impact analysis. Key locations of non-European raw material extraction and refining are considered for the supply chain. Instead, European countries are considered the final destination for battery pack manufacturing and assembly, use, and End-of-Life (EoL). For the use and EoL phases, three scenarios are analyzed. The LCA results indicate that greenhouse gas emissions vary from 77.2 kg CO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> -eq/kWh to 80.7 kg CO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>-eq/kWh across the evaluated scenarios. Similarly, the economic assessment estimates LCCs between 77.7 EUR/kWh and 79.4 EUR/kWh, depending on the scenario. The S-LCA results highlight significant risks related to fair pay across numerous countries during the raw material extraction phase, particularly for cobalt (Democratic Republic of the Congo), manganese (South Africa), nickel (Australia), lithium (Australia), and graphite (China). In addition, the score for health and safety concerns presents high risks associated with cobalt, manganese, and nickel mining. In contrast, no significant critical social impacts are found for the use and EoL phases. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-17ffc9cf36464263b5d7d12fa5699ffb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2644-1330 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology |
| spelling | doaj-art-17ffc9cf36464263b5d7d12fa5699ffb2025-08-20T03:29:06ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology2644-13302025-01-0161698170910.1109/OJVT.2025.357922111031181Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery PackAntonella Accardo0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9132-8391Gaia Gentilucci1https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2372-0209Luca Pontone2https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3077-5718Ezio Spessa3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5236-619XDepartment of Energy, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, ItalyThis study evaluates the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the life cycle of a battery pack for automotive applications. The analysis employs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for environmental assessment, Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for economic assessment, and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) for social impact analysis. Key locations of non-European raw material extraction and refining are considered for the supply chain. Instead, European countries are considered the final destination for battery pack manufacturing and assembly, use, and End-of-Life (EoL). For the use and EoL phases, three scenarios are analyzed. The LCA results indicate that greenhouse gas emissions vary from 77.2 kg CO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> -eq/kWh to 80.7 kg CO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>-eq/kWh across the evaluated scenarios. Similarly, the economic assessment estimates LCCs between 77.7 EUR/kWh and 79.4 EUR/kWh, depending on the scenario. The S-LCA results highlight significant risks related to fair pay across numerous countries during the raw material extraction phase, particularly for cobalt (Democratic Republic of the Congo), manganese (South Africa), nickel (Australia), lithium (Australia), and graphite (China). In addition, the score for health and safety concerns presents high risks associated with cobalt, manganese, and nickel mining. In contrast, no significant critical social impacts are found for the use and EoL phases.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11031181/Life cycle assessment (LCA)life cycle costing (LCC)social life cycle assessment (S-LCA)batteryelectric vehicles |
| spellingShingle | Antonella Accardo Gaia Gentilucci Luca Pontone Ezio Spessa Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology Life cycle assessment (LCA) life cycle costing (LCC) social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) battery electric vehicles |
| title | Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack |
| title_full | Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack |
| title_fullStr | Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack |
| title_short | Investigating Life Cycle Cost, Environmental and Social Impacts of a Lithium–Ion Battery Pack |
| title_sort | investigating life cycle cost environmental and social impacts of a lithium x2013 ion battery pack |
| topic | Life cycle assessment (LCA) life cycle costing (LCC) social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) battery electric vehicles |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11031181/ |
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