A research agenda for life cycle assessment of electromobility

This is a pre-study, financed by the Swedish Energy Agency, with the aim of presenting a research agenda for life cycle assessment (LCA) of electromobility. Electric vehicles are often portrayed as potential remedies for numerous environmental problems, most notably global warming. At the same time, LCA studies already conducted have shown that electric vehicles can also worsen some environmental problems through increased use of abiotic resources and emissions of toxicity substances. Whether electric vehicles truly do reduce global warming impacts also depends on the production technology for the electricity. This type of ambiguous result calls for a systematic assessment of the environmental and resource performance of electromobility, such as by LCA. Considering the many overlapping issues related to LCA and electromobility, it can be thought of as a nexus, involving different technologies (batteries, fuel cells, electronics, electric motors, different vehicles, etc.) and different environmental issues (resource use, criticality thereof, energy-related emissions, etc.). In order to investigate which parts of this nexus are most interesting to study further, information was obtained from three sources: (1) workshops with relevant industry stakeholders, (2) interviews with researchers in the field, and (3) a literature study of key documents in the area of LCA of electromobility. The result is formulated into a research agenda for LCA of electromobility, which consists of ten research questions. Seven of these regard electromobility technologies important to study (e.g. future battery chemistries and electric aviation), whereas three regard methodological issues (e.g. impact assessment of abiotic resources). Two near-term research projects have been formulated, for which funding applications will be submitted during 2019, and together they cover a majority of the research questions

Quantifying the life-cycle health impacts of a cobalt-containing lithium-ion battery

Purpose: Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been criticized for contributing to negative social impacts along their life cycles, especially child labor and harsh working conditions during cobalt extraction. This study focuses on human health impacts — arguably the most fundamental of all social impacts. The aim is to quantify the potential life-cycle health impacts of an LIB cell of the type nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC 811) in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALY), as well as to identify hotspots and ways to reduce the health impacts. Methods: A cradle-to-gate attributional life-cycle assessment study is conducted with the functional unit of one LIB cell and human health as the sole endpoint considered. The studied LIB is produced in a large-scale “gigafactory” in Sweden, the cobalt sulfate for the cathode is produced in China, and the cobalt raw material is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Potential health impacts from both emissions and occupational accidents are quantified in terms of DALY, making this an impact pathway (or type II) study with regard to social impact assessment. Two scenarios for fatality rates in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC are considered: a high scenario at 2000 fatalities/year and a low scenario at 65 fatalities/year. Results: Applying the high fatality rate, occupational accidents in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC contribute notably to the total life-cycle health impacts of the LIB cell (13%). However, emissions from production of nickel sulfate (used in the cathode) and of copper foil (the anode current collector) contribute even more (30% and 20%, respectively). These contributions are sensitive to the selected time horizon of the life-cycle assessment, with longer or shorter time horizons leading to considerably increased or decreased health impacts, respectively. Conclusions: In order to reduce the health impacts of the studied LIB, it is recommended to (i) investigate the feasibility of replacing the copper foil with another material able to provide anode current collector functionality, (ii) reduce emissions from metal extraction (particularly nickel and copper), (iii) increase the recycled content of metals supplied to the LIB manufacturing, and (iv) improve the occupational standards in artisanal mining in the DRC, in particular by reducing fatal accidents

Life cycle assessment of city buses powered by electricity, hydrogenated vegetable oil or diesel

This study explores life cycle environmental impacts of city buses, depending on the: (1) degree of electrification; (2) electricity supply mix, for chargeable options; and (3) choice of diesel or hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), a biodiesel, for options with combustion engine. It is a case study, which uses industry data to investigate the impact on climate change, a key driver for electrification, and a wider set of impacts, for average operation in Sweden, the European Union and the United States of America. The results show that non-chargeable hybrid electric vehicles provide clear climate change mitigation potential compared to conventional buses, regardless of the available fuel being diesel or HVO. When fueling with HVO, plug-in hybrid and all-electric buses provide further benefits for grid intensities below 200 g CO₂ eq./kWh. For diesel, the all-electric option is preferable up to 750 g CO₂ eq./kWh. This is the case despite batteries and other electric powertrain parts causing an increase of CO₂ emissions from vehicle production. However, material processing to make common parts, i.e. chassis, frame and body, dominates the production load for all models. Consequently, city buses differ from passenger cars, where the battery packs play a larger role. In regard to other airborne pollutants, the all-electric bus has the best potential to reduce impacts overall, but the results depend on the amount of fossil fuels and combustion processes in the electricity production. For toxic emissions and resource use, the extraction of metals and fossil fuels calls for attention

A model platform for solving lithium-ion battery cell data gaps in life cycle assessment

With the advent of electromobility, life cycle assessment studies need to keep up with growing number of cell formats and chemistries being adopted for various vehicle applications. This often hindered by lack of data. A model platform is presented, starting with a cell design computation model which is used for calculating the mass of cell components and other design parameters. It also includes a cell performance model, which will link to a battery pack and vehicle model, both used for estimate losses caused by the cell during vehicle operation. Furthermore, the platform comprises a model generating inventory data for life cycle assessment of lithium-ion battery cell production. Together, these parts feed information to life cycle assessment calculations covering both production and use of lithium-ion battery cells. The aim is to support technology development and provide an understanding of how various design changes in cells link to environmental impacts. This conference paper explains model parts and provides exemplary results

Environmental life cycle implications of upscaling lithium-ion battery production

Purpose Life cycle assessment (LCA) literature evaluating environmental burdens from lithium-ion battery (LIB) production facilitieslacks an understanding of how environmental burdens have changed over time due to a transition to large-scale production. Thepurpose of this study is hence to examine the effect of upscaling LIB production using unique life cycle inventory data representativeof large-scale production. A sub-goal of the study is to examine how changes in background datasets affect environmental impacts.Method We remodel an often-cited study on small-scale battery production by Ellingsen et al. (2014), representative ofoperations in 2010, and couple it to updated Ecoinvent background data. Additionally, we use new inventory data to modelLIB cell production in a large-scale facility representative of the latest technology in LIB production. The cell manufacturedin the small-scale facility is an NMC-1:1:1 (nickel-manganese-cobalt) pouch cell, whereas in the large-scale facility, the cellproduced in an NMC-8:1:1 cylindrical cell. We model production in varying carbon intensity scenarios using recycled andexclusively primary materials as input options. We assess environmental pollution–related impacts using ReCiPe midpointindicators and resource use impacts using the surplus ore method (ReCiPe) and the crustal scarcity indicator.Results and discussion Remodelling of the small-scale factory using updated background data showed a 34% increase ingreenhouse gas emissions — linked to updated cobalt sulfate production data. Upscaling production reduced emissions bynearly 45% in the reference scenario (South Korean energy mix) due to a reduced energy demand in cell production. However,the emissions reduce by a further 55% if the energy is sourced from a low-carbon intensity source (Swedish energymix), shifting almost all burden to upstream supply chain. Regional pollution impacts such as acidification and eutrophicationshow similar trends. Toxic emissions also reduce, but unlike other impacts, they were already occurring during miningand ore processing. Lastly, nickel, cobalt, and lithium use contribute considerably to resource impacts. From a long-termperspective, copper becomes important from a resource scarcity perspective.Conclusions Upscaling LIB production shifts environmental burdens to upstream material extraction and production, irrespectiveof the carbon intensity of the energy source. Thus, a key message for the industry and policy makers is that furtherreductions in the climate impacts from LIB production are possible, only when the upstream LIB supply chain uses renewableenergy source. An additional message to LCA practitioners is to examine the effect of changing background systemswhen evaluating maturing technologies

Life cycle environmental impacts of current and future battery-grade lithium supply from brine and spodumene

Life cycle assessment studies of large-scale lithium-ion battery (LIB) production reveal a shift-of-burden to the upstream phase of cell production. Thus, it is important to understand how environmental impacts differ based on the source and grade of extracted metals. As lithium is highly relevant to several current and next-generation cell chemistries, we reviewed the effect of varying grades in different sources of lithium (brine and spodumene) worldwide. The review covered the Ecoinvent database, scientific literature, and technical reports of several upcoming production facilities. The results showed that lower-grade lithium brines have higher environmental impacts compared to higher-grade brines. However, spodumene-based production did not show such a trend, due to different technical process designs of the facilities reviewed. Water use impacts are higher in lower-grade sources and are expected to increase with decreasing lithium concentration. This could specifically be an issue in brine-based production, where brine is extracted from already water scarce regions and evaporated, thus increasing the risk of freshwater availability. However, these aspects of water use are not addressed in existing life cycle impact assessment methods. In the context of large-scale LIB cell production, the reviewed lithium hydroxide production routes account for 5–15% of the climate change impacts

Implementation of the crustal scarcity indicator into life cycle assessment software

This report provides a detailed description of how the crustal scarcity indicator (CSI) is\ua0implemented into the life cycle assessment (LCA) software OpenLCA. The original\ua0characterization factors for the CSI, called crustal scarcity potentials (CSPs), were designed to be\ua0paired with life cycle inventory data formulated as the amount (mass) of elements extracted from\ua0the crust. However, some inventory data is not formulated in terms of mass of elements extracted.\ua0For example, data in the Ecoinvent database – the world’s largest LCA database – can also be\ua0expressed in terms of the amount of mineral extracted, the amount of rock extracted, or the amount\ua0of ore extracted. In order to implement the CSI into OpenLCA in a way that captures such nonelement\ua0flows, we construct five categories of inventory data for material flows extracted from the\ua0crust. Type A flows are flows of elements, such as lead or tin, which the original CSPs can be paired\ua0with. Type B flows are flows of minerals, such as kieserite or stibnite. Type C flows are flows of\ua0rocks and groups of minerals, such as basalt or olivine. Type D flows are ores, like copper ore. Type\ua0A flows are paired with the CSPs of the respective element types. However, for type B, C and D\ua0flows, new CSPs were calculated based on their respective content of different elements. These new\ua0CSPs can be found in Appendix A-D. In addition, type E flows are those that are too vaguely\ua0formulated in the Ecoinvent database, for example as general metal or ore, making it impossible to\ua0derive CSPs. In the concluding discussion, we show that this implementation gives the CSI a wider\ua0coverage of different inventory flows than other existing mineral resource impact assessment\ua0methods implemented in different packages for OpenLCA. The implementation might thus be\ua0considered a guidance for a more all-encompassing implementation of other mineral resource\ua0impact assessment methods as well

Trähägn en tänkbar metod för viltskydd i Svenskt skogsbruk?

This survey was made to investigate the possibility of using an alternative method of fencing in Swedish forestry. The most common way of fencing in Sweden today is made by a two meter high metal net that is attached to turned impregnated poles. The fencing methods that have been investigated is a fencing system made completely out of wood so called “German wood fence”. Browsing of game in forest regeneration areas is often a big problem and some kind of protection of the plants is often necessary. There is several ways of building fences and the most common way is to use metal nets and impregnated poles, this leads to a problem when the fence has profiled its purpose. The net and the poles has to be removed out of the forest which is expensive and don’t give the landowner any income. In the spring of 2007 we were in Germany on an internship, there we came in contact with “German wood fencing”. During our visit we also had the opportunity to build one fence with this method. This became the starting point of this thesis that has been written in the spring of 2010. In our work with this thesis we also made a fieldtrip back to Germany and the Forstliches Bildungs Zentrum in Münchehof. During our trip we did inventory in Forstamt Sessen and Forstamt Saupark on this wood fencing system, we also revisited to the fence we built in 2007. We did interviews and had discussions with forest managers, forest workers and others with expertise. The districts that we visited in Germany have almost stopped fencing with metal net because the cost to bring the fence down is considered too expensive. They use instead this wood fencing system. We have studied the conditions for fencing in Sweden and the literature on the subject. Contacts have been taken with fencing entrepreneurs to learn what problem they have in their work and what their cost are. To build steal net fences is expensive and if the ground has to be flattened before the fence can be built the cost will increase. Manny of the entrepreneurs that we have been in contact with have built allot of fences and expect a problem in the future that weary few are taken down. Wood fences have benefits but further investigation is needed to see if the system is adjustable to Swedish conditions and demands. The biggest benefit is that the landowner don’t have to remove the fence when it have fulfilled its purpose, since the hole construction is built out of wood it will decay with time. One problem for alternative fencing systems are the Swedish National board off forestry’s criteria on how a fence should be constructed so the land owner can apply for subsidies of building the fence. Today can forest owner not expect to get any financial support from the National Board of Forestry for protecting their regeneration if they use wood fence. The criteria’s can be change if it is shown with studies that the system works.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka möjligheterna att använda en alternativ metod av hägning i svenskt skogsbruk. I Sverige byggs i princip bara hägn av metallnät. Vi ska med detta examensarbete undersöka möjligheterna att hägna med så kallade Tyska trähägn. Skador av klövvilt i ungskog är ofta ett stort problem för skogsbruket och någon form av hägn är ofta en nödvändighet för att skydda föryngringen. Det finns flera metoder att hägna på varav det vanligaste i Sverige är med konventionellt stålstängsel och tryckimpregnerade stolpar. Problemet med denna metod är att markägaren har krav på sig att montera ner hägnet när det fyllt sitt syfte. Hägnet ska inte lämnas kvar som sopor i naturen eller blir dödsfällor för det vilda. Arbetet med examensarbetet infattade en studieresa till Tyskland där vi besökte Forstliches Bildungs Zentrum i Münchehof. Där inventerade vi trähägn i Forsamt Sessen och Forstamt Saupark. Vi utförde en återinventering av det hägn som vi byggde våren 2007 samt vi samlade in data från andra trähägn med olika ålder ute i fält. Vi hade diskussioner med olika skogsförvaltare på distrikten och sakkunniga på området. I de distrikt som besöktes i Tyskland har man i stort sett slutat att hägna med konventionellt stålstängsel. Detta motiveras med att nedmontering av dessa hägn blir för kostsamma. Vi har även studerat rådande förutsättningarna för hur hägning går till i Sverige och studerat den litteratur som finns på området. Kontakt har tagits med stängselentreprenörer för att se vilka problem man har och hur kostnaderna ser ut i Sverige. Att hägna är dyrt och arbetskrävande, kostnaden med totalentreprenad är runt 80kr/m. Med detta förutsätter att inga förberedande markarbeten behövs. Nedmontering av näthägn ser flera entreprenörer som ett växande problem, mycket hägn har byggts men väldigt lite har plockats ner. Trähägn har sina fördelar men det bör vidare undersökas om det går att anpassa metoden för Svenskt skogsbruk och hur bra träkonstruktionen klarar våra krav och förhållanden. Trähägn har sin största styrka i att det är byggt i obehandlat virke och därför inte behöver monteras ned och forslas ut ur skogen. Utan man lämnar hägnet när det fyllt sitt syfte och låter det förmultna. Ett problem för alternativa hägningsmetoder, så som tyska trähägn är skogsstyrelsens kriterier på hur ett hägn ska vara utformat för att markägaren ska kunna erhålla bidrag. I dag betalas det inte ut några bidrag för trähägn eftersom stödbestämmelserna inte uppfylls. Men kriterierna kan komma att omarbetas om det påvisas genom forskning eller dokumenterade erfarenheter att hängmetoden fungerar tillfredställande. Denna studie har till stor del byggts på personliga kontakter med sakkunniga inom hägning i Sverige och Tyskland. I Sverige har information om konventionella hägn samlats in för att kunna jämföra kostnader och för och nackdelar med de båda metoderna. Vår ekonomiska analys visar på att kostnaderna för material och uppsättning inte skiljer sig särskilt mycket åt mellan konventionella näthägn och Tyska trähägn. Men för Konventionella näthägn krävs ofta mer omfattande markarbeten med grävmaskin samt kostnader för nedmontering

Does the grade and source of lithium used in batteries matter?

Lithium-based batteries are increasingly being implemented for storing energy, both in transportation and stationary applications. As battery manufacturing matures and becomes more efficient, the environmental burdens of these batteries shift upstream, for example to the lithium supply. The majority of the current global lithium supply comes from two sources – spodumene mined in Australia and brines extracted in Chile. In this study, we review existing life cycle assessment literature on lithium production regarding data completeness and quality, as well as temporal and geographical relevance. Preliminary results indicate that the currently most used datasets in life cycle assessment studies of lithium-based batteries lack quality and representativeness of current operations. To address these gaps, this study compiles several new datasets for lithium production representing different geographies, technical processes, and lithium grades. First, we compare the inventory data of other existing lithium supply datasets, both older and newly compiled, regarding their quality and representativeness. Second, we look at future scenarios for lithium supply based on global proven reserves and analyze the influence of changing grades on future environmental impacts. Third, we examine the potential for reducing environmental impacts from the lithium-supply chain by linking all electricity inputs to renewable sources. Finally, we use the various lithium datasets compiled in this study to update the results of a giga-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing in a recently published study. We focus on climate change and mineral resource use impacts. Additionally, to inform a growing debate in scientific literature around the water use impacts related to brine and freshwater extraction in water-stressed regions of the world, such as the salars in South America, we use regionalized water use assessment indicators to further assess the burdens of battery production from water use perspective