EV battery state changes & RL considerations

Electric Vehicles are becoming trendy and proved to have no harmful exhaust like traditional fuel-powered vehicles which makes them one of the best solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As the world shifts towards electric vehicle adoption, we will need efficient power sources to provide enough capacity for all these vehicles to function. Lithium-Ion batteries are the driving force behind this new trend. The goal of this research is to analyze the lifespan and long-term ratio composition of Lithium-Ion batteries in electric vehicles by developing two models, an Absorbing Markov Chain model, and a Markov Chain Steady-State Census model. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to alleviate the scarcity of enough input data. The models show that the lifespan of the new batteries can be extended by 4.5 years, which will have a positive environmental impact and reap economic benefits. Further, the long term composition of batteries in New, remanufactured, repurposed and recycled states can be projected. The increasing demand for EVs globally has created a necessity for more batteries to power them, and these batteries require materials to be made. By considering reverse logistics processes, it is possible to recycle batteries and recover the valuable materials. Not only does this support the environment, but given the rising demand and finite raw material supply, there is an opportunity to capture the economic benefit of recycling. From this research, the recovered materials cobalt, lithium, and nickel are calculated, and this is especially important for the optimal planning of sustainable manufacturing

Sources of uncertainty in the closed-loop supply chain of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles

Due to increasing demand for electric vehicles and short innovation circles of battery, production, and recycling technology, different uncertainties need to be faced at different stages of the supply chain. However, a qualitative analysis of the uncertainties and their sources is missing. Therefore, in this paper the authors propose an empirical approach to the identification of uncertainty occurring in the closed-loop supply chain of lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles (uncertainty in supply, process, demand, control, and environmental uncertainty). The investigation methodology consists of a content analysis of press media documents related to electric vehicles and the automotive industry. The final content analysis comprises 102 evidences of uncertainty. Consequently, the evidences of uncertainty found are classified in a spectrum between statistical uncertainty and total ignorance (levels of uncertainty). Graphs and data are described to provide detailed information. The results signal predominant environmental uncertainty besides the uncertainty within control and supply of the closed-loop. A conclusion on the investigation shows cobalt as a raw material responsible for increasing uncertainty (boomerang effect). Additionally, the content analysis evidences uncertainty with the availability, quantity, stock control policies, government regulations, and political instability with cobalt, lithium, and nickel.publishersversionpublishe

Investigating the reverse supply chains of li-ion batteries in Finland

Abstract. Electric vehicles play a vital role in the electrification of transportation, and therefore in slowing down climate change. Hence, the number of electric vehicles has been on the rise globally. This has been made possible by major leaps in battery technology and the battery industry. The Finnish battery industry has also experienced growth, and Finland has set goals of becoming a major power in the entire value chain of the battery industry. However, the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles has involved environmental and ethical problems. The challenge of properly handling end-of-life batteries has only made the situation even more difficult. Due to these problems, the life cycle of these batteries is to be lengthened with the methods of circular economy, like reusing, refurbishing, and recycling. These would allow to form a closed-loop system. The concept that closes the circular economy loop is called reverse supply chain. In this bachelor’s thesis, the reverse supply chains of the Finnish battery industry are studied, their current capacity is determined, and their adequacy in the future is assessed. The used research methods are literature review and desk research. With these, literature from international sources on reverse supply chains of the battery industry are assessed and reflected on the situation in Finland. The study revealed that in Finland there is adequate recycling capacity now, and in the future. Despite this, Finland is not fully selfsufficient in recycling at the moment. The greatest shortcomings were found to be in battery reuse and repurposing. The main cause for this is due to the lack of economies of scale, since the number of end-of-life batteries is limited.Litiumioniakkujen paluulogistiikka Suomessa. Tiivistelmä. Sähköautot ovat tärkeässä roolissa liikenteen sähköistymisessä, ja samalla ilmastonmuutoksen hidastamisessa. Sähköautojen määrä onkin kasvussa maailmanlaajuisesti. Tämän ovat mahdollistaneet suuret harppaukset akkutekniikassa ja akkuteollisuudessa. Myös Suomen akkuteollisuus on suuressa kasvussa, ja Suomella onkin tavoitteena saavuttaa merkittävä asema koko akkuteollisuuden arvoketjussa. Kuitenkin sähköautojen litiumioniakkujen valmistukseen liittyy useita ympäristöllisiä ja eettisiä ongelmia, jotka tekevät yhtälöstä monimutkaisemman. Tilannetta vaikeuttaa myös akkujen käytöstä poistamiseen liittyvät haasteet. Näiden ongelmien vuoksi akkujen käyttöikää pyritään pidentämään kiertotalouden menetelmillä, kuten uudelleenkäytöllä, korjaamisella ja kierrättämisellä. Näin saadaan muodostettua suljetun tuotekierron järjestelmä. Käsitettä, joka sulkee kiertotalouden tuotekierron, kutsutaan paluulogistiikaksi. Tämä kandidaatintyö tutkii Suomen akkuteollisuuden paluulogistiikkaa, ja pyrkii selvittämään sen nykyisen tason, ja arvioimaan sen riittävyyttä tulevaisuudessa. Tutkimuksessa käytettään kirjallisuuskatsausta ja työpöytätutkimusta selvittämään tietoa kansainvälisistä lähteistä akkuteollisuuden paluulogistiikasta, ja vertaamalla tätä Suomen tilanteeseen. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että akkujen kierrätykseen Suomessa on hyvät valmiudet nyt ja tulevaisuudessa. Tästä huolimatta Suomi ei ole tällä hetkellä täysin omavarainen kierrätyksessä. Akkujen uudelleenkäytössä ja kunnostuksessa on kiertotalouden menetelmistä eniten puutetta Suomessa. Suurin syy tähän on mittakaavaedun puute, sillä käytöstä poistuneita akkuja on tällä hetkellä liian vähän

Reverse Logistics of Lithium Batteries: Sustainable Guidelines for Businesses in Finland

This research-based thesis aims to suggest useful concepts from reverse logistics for businesses to use in lithium battery waste management. The research is divided into an introduction, theoretical framework, methodology, empirical research and discussion. The usage of lithium batteries has increased over the recent years, especially with the growing popularity of electric vehicles. The usage rate is only expected to increase further, which might result in large lithium battery stockpiles in the environment. Due to this concern, businesses should find solutions in the sustainable disposition of Li-ion batteries. The target of this thesis is to present reverse logistics as a sustainable tool for lithium battery waste management. The main goals are to support the sustainable benefits of reverse logistics, assess the benefits of third party logistics (3PLs) and view the possibilities of re-verse logistics in Finland. The desired outcomes are to propose reverse logistics concepts to manage Li-ion batteries sustainably and suggest the demand and possibilities of the in-dustry. To support the findings of the theoretical framework, the author has carried out qualitative research. The qualitative method of choice included two semi-structured interviews with businesses in different sectors of the lithium battery industry. To analyse the qualitative data, thematic analysis was utilised in combination of secondary data from existing theory. At the end, the author proposed suggestions from the overall research. The results suggest that reverse logistics can be seen as a sustainable option for lithium battery waste man-agement. 3PLs are a valid component in reverse logistics, which has a demand for more service providers. Reverse logistics in Finland can include several opportunities, as the Li-ion battery industry has many businesses operating in all major sectors

The logistics implications of the emerging business model

In what may eventually be called the fastest recovery from a recession in modern business we should be considering the lessons emerging from the 2008/9 financial crisis which witnessed the demise of corporate giants and unprecedented government responses. We have seen all three ‘business directions’ (strategy, structure, and implementation) undergo change. Historically dominant companies have migrated from industries in which they were acknowledged leaders and have been replaced by organisations that were hitherto unknown in circumstances that take us beyond Friedmen’s (2006) ‘Flat World’ towards one that is perhaps becoming ‘concave’ – in which connectivity and interaction become even easier

Investigation on reverse logistics of end of life cars in the UK

Global warming is becoming the most significant problem in the world, which generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants. This has forced government and business to focus on environmental issues on their initiatives where reverse logistics (RL) practice is described as an initiative that plays an important role for those who seek environmentally responsible solutions to reduce waste, which in turn, reduces carbon emission caused by end of life (EoL) products. Among the EoL products, cars are one of the major concerns due to their increasing volume, use of thousands of parts and hazardous materials like CFCs, which cause carbon emission during use, end of life collection, recycling and disposal process. Proper implementation of RL process of EoL cars can slow down the carbon emission by reducing the number of old cars on road, transportation distance for EoL collection and waste for disposal, and by increasing recovery of components, parts and materials. Therefore, this research investigates RL of EoL cars in terms of its key aspects including the reasons cars become EoL and arrive for disposal, details of the diverse nature of EoL cars and its impact on the EoL RL process; details of the return process and its performance, players involved in the process and their relationship nature, drivers influencing players to become involve and challenges they may face in the RL process. Finally, given that EoL car RL practice understanding would be of limited value unless accompanied by general principles (theories) that inform wider application, the study utilises several established and emerging management/organisational theories (resource and knowledge based views, resource dependence theory, stakeholder theory, agency theory and institutional theory) to underpin the multifaceted reality of EoL car RL practice. Even though a significant amount of RL research has been done, most of the research is generic, addressing issues in a standalone manner such as cost in RL, technology in RL, or environmental issues. Thus, many important aspects are not known, especially in the automotive industry, particularly in the UK, where managing EoL cars is a key concern now for the automotive industry due to strict law from the UK government to protect the environment by implementing proper EoL car RL solutions. This lack of holistic direction also carries the risk that practitioners and policymakers could mistakenly be addressing the wrong issues and neglecting important aspects that have more significance in reverse logistics practice. Therefore, an exploratory approach was employed to comprehensively answer the research questions. This exploratory research used a multiple case study method involving semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders who are involved in the EoL car RL practice to explore four research questions within RL key aspects derived for this study. With regards to the findings, this study contributes a conceptual understanding of EoL car RL practice through operationalising and developing detail of RL key aspects which validates EoL car category (natural, unnatural and abandoned) and the reasons a car becomes EoL (damage due to age, accident or theft); diverse nature of EoL cars and its significant impact on the recovery process due to its design (how components are put together, use of diverse components and materials), components functionality (repairable, nonrepairable) and the source of EoL car (individual consumer, industrial customers or institutions); a systematic EoL car collection process to reduce cost and carbon emission by reducing transportation cost and fuel consumption; use of expertise, processing and equipment to remove and recycle hazardous components from EoL cars to improve quality and quantity of recovered parts and materials; use of updated shredding technology to increase recovery rate and reduce unrecoverable waste for landfill; diverse relationship nature (acquisition, strategic alliance, arm’s length) between players and its impact on the EoL car RL process; factors influencing (legislative pressure, economic gain, stakeholder pressures, competitive pressure, environmental and social awareness) and hindering (costly process, lack of expertise, lack of last car owner support, lack of technology, lack of effective disposal system) involvement of stakeholders in, and the development of, the EoL car RL process. This study provides practitioners (across all stakeholders) with a potential stock of RL process that they could implement as well as potential performance measures they could operationalise in their respective firms. Also, it helps them to measure the drivers and barriers affecting their RL practices implementation. Overall, given that most of the underlying issues in RL practice are similar within related sectors, the insights from this study can be used as a good starting point for practitioners and policymakers elsewhere in RL practice. The study is arguably the first comprehensive attempt to understand EoL car RL practice and its importance/relevance in the UK. Also, the application of several established/emerging theories to understand the various RL aspects has not been undertaken previously in the automotive sector and hence constitutes a novelty

Creating a circular EV battery value chain: End-of-life strategies and future perspective

The rapid uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) will be vital to decarbonise the transport sector and achieve climate change targets. However, this transition is leading to an increased demand for key battery materials and associated resource challenges and supply-chain risks. On the other hand, discarded EV batteries create business opportunities for second life and recycling. This study presents scenario-driven material flow analysis (MFA) to estimate the future volume of EV battery wastes to be potentially generated in Sweden and future demand for key battery materials, considering potential EV fleet, battery chemistry developments, and end-of-life strategies of EV batteries. Further, we combine MFA with a socio-technical approach to explore how different socio-technical developments will affect both EV battery flows and the underlying systems in the future. Recycling has the potential to reduce primary demand by 25–64% during 2040–2050 based on projected demand, meaning that waste streams could cover a considerable part of the future raw material demands. Second-use of EV batteries can promote circularity yet postpones recycling potentials. From a transition perspective, promoting recycling, second-life use of EV batteries and advanced battery technologies entail system disruption and transformational changes in technology, markets, business models, policy, and infrastructure and user practices. Demand for high-capacity batteries for grid decarbonisation and aviation applications may contribute to the emergence of niche battery technologies. Each scenario highlights the need for effective policy frameworks to foster a circular EV battery value chain

Driving vehicle dismantling forward - A combined literature and empirical study

To move towards a more sustainable and circular economy, a more efficient recovery processes for end-of-life vehicles and their constituent components and materials is needed. To enable reuse, remanufacturing, high-value recycling and other circular strategies, a well-functioning disassembly is essential. This article presents a literature review of studies focusing on vehicle dismantling and surrounding end-of-life treatment systems. Furthermore, topics considered as the most critical for practitioners were identified through focus groups composed of industry representatives and researchers from various Swedish organizations. By comparing findings from the literature and empirical results, it is concluded that there are differences and gaps between the areas researched and those considered as important by industry, thus calling for further research to address practical challenges in improving vehicle end-of-life management. The four areas highlighted as the most prominent are: i) plastics, ii) batteries, iii) investments and ownership structures, and iv) the workforce