Environmental Impact of EV Batteries and Their Recycling

2022 ◽  
pp. 156-177
Author(s):  
Zeeshan Ahmad Arfeen ◽  
Rabia Hassan ◽  
Mehreen Kausar Azam ◽  
Mohammad Pauzi Abdullah

Electrifying transportation is one of the biggest keys to solving the looming climate crisis. The demand for electric vehicles (EV) is booming in the last five years and will increase in the coming years. In this modern age, where EV is the finest means of transportation due to null exhaust gases, there is a dire need to think about ways of recycling and reusing those batteries associated with EVs. In this context, it is estimated that post-vehicle battery packs application will be crossed from 1.4 million to 6.8 million by the year 2035. Numerous researches have been done on the re-purposing and safe disposal of EV batteries. However, presently, Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are the optimal choice for electric transportation due to greater energy density, compact size, and extended life cycles. Nonetheless, the trade-off between re-purposing and disposal of LiBs is substantial for the protection of the environment and human health. Regrettably, Lithium-ion battery recycling percentage is only 3% currently whereas its revival is negligible.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1939
Author(s):  
Erika Pierri ◽  
Valentina Cirillo ◽  
Thomas Vietor ◽  
Marco Sorrentino

Innovative vehicle concepts have been developed in the past years in the automotive sector, including alternative drive systems such as hybrid and battery electric vehicles, so as to meet the environmental targets and cope with the increasingly stringent emissions regulations. The preferred hybridizing technology is lithium-ion battery, thanks to its high energy density. The optimal integration of battery packs in the vehicle is a challenging task when designing e-mobility concepts. Therefore, this work proposes a conceptual design procedure aimed at optimizing the sizing of hybrid and battery electric vehicles. Particularly, the influence of the cell type, physical disposition and arrangement of the electrical devices is accounted for within a conversion design framework. The optimization is focused on the trade-off between the battery pack capacity and weight. After introducing the main features of electric traction systems and their challenges compared to conventional ones, the relevant design properties of electric vehicles are analyzed. A detailed strategy, encompassing the selection of battery format and technology, battery pack design and final assessment of the proposed set-up, is presented and implemented in an exemplary application, assuming an existing commercial vehicle as the reference starting layout. Prismatic, cylindrical and pouch cells are configured aiming at achieving installed battery energy as close as possible to the reference one, while meeting the original installation space constraint. The best resulting configuration, which also guarantees similar peak power performance of the reference battery-pack, allows reducing the mass of the storage system down to 70% of its starting value.


2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1207-1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Wen LI ◽  
Ai-Jun ZHOU ◽  
Xing-Quan LIU ◽  
Jing-Ze LI

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (41) ◽  
pp. 22740-22755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Chin Pang ◽  
Yucang Hao ◽  
Monica Marinescu ◽  
Huizhi Wang ◽  
Mu Chen ◽  
...  

Solid-state lithium batteries could reduce the safety concern due to thermal runaway while improving the gravimetric and volumetric energy density beyond the existing practical limits of lithium-ion batteries.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Renwei Lu ◽  
Xiaolong Ren ◽  
Chong Wang ◽  
Changzhen Zhan ◽  
Ding Nan ◽  
...  

Lithium-ion hybrid capacitors (LICs) are regarded as one of the most promising next generation energy storage devices. Commercial activated carbon materials with low cost and excellent cycling stability are widely used as cathode materials for LICs, however, their low energy density remains a significant challenge for the practical applications of LICs. Herein, Na0.76V6O15 nanobelts (NaVO) were prepared and combined with commercial activated carbon YP50D to form hybrid cathode materials. Credit to the synergism of its capacitive effect and diffusion-controlled faradaic effect, NaVO/C hybrid cathode displays both superior cyclability and enhanced capacity. LICs were assembled with the as-prepared NaVO/C hybrid cathode and artificial graphite anode which was pre-lithiated. Furthermore, 10-NaVO/C//AG LIC delivers a high energy density of 118.9 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 220.6 W kg−1 and retains 43.7 Wh kg−1 even at a high power density of 21,793.0 W kg−1. The LIC can also maintain long-term cycling stability with capacitance retention of approximately 70% after 5000 cycles at 1 A g−1. Accordingly, hybrid cathodes composed of commercial activated carbon and a small amount of high energy battery-type materials are expected to be a candidate for low-cost advanced LICs with both high energy density and power density.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5726
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Wewer ◽  
Pinar Bilge ◽  
Franz Dietrich

Electromobility is a new approach to the reduction of CO2 emissions and the deceleration of global warming. Its environmental impacts are often compared to traditional mobility solutions based on gasoline or diesel engines. The comparison pertains mostly to the single life cycle of a battery. The impact of multiple life cycles remains an important, and yet unanswered, question. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate advances of 2nd life applications for lithium ion batteries from electric vehicles based on their energy demand. Therefore, it highlights the limitations of a conventional life cycle analysis (LCA) and presents a supplementary method of analysis by providing the design and results of a meta study on the environmental impact of lithium ion batteries. The study focuses on energy demand, and investigates its total impact for different cases considering 2nd life applications such as (C1) material recycling, (C2) repurposing and (C3) reuse. Required reprocessing methods such as remanufacturing of batteries lie at the basis of these 2nd life applications. Batteries are used in their 2nd lives for stationary energy storage (C2, repurpose) and electric vehicles (C3, reuse). The study results confirm that both of these 2nd life applications require less energy than the recycling of batteries at the end of their first life and the production of new batteries. The paper concludes by identifying future research areas in order to generate precise forecasts for 2nd life applications and their industrial dissemination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 498 ◽  
pp. 229912
Author(s):  
Xuan Dai ◽  
Shulai Lei ◽  
Juan Liu ◽  
Zhitong Shang ◽  
Shengwen Zhong ◽  
...  

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