Comparative life cycle assessment of lithium‐ion, sodium‐ion, and solid‐state battery cells for electric vehicles

The transition toward electrification of transportation has resulted in a rapid increase in the demand for battery cells. While this demand is currently being met through the use of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), alternative batteries like sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) and solid‐state batteries (SSBs) are emerging as relevant alternatives. In this study, we analyze, based on current electric vehicle electrode stack designs, the environmental impact of LIB cells, SIB cells, and SSB cells. The life cycle assessment results from this cradle‐to‐gate study show that for LIB cell production today, ∼58–92 kgCO2‐eq are emitted per kWhcell and ∼296–624 kWhCED/kWhcell of primary energy is required. In SIB cell production, ∼75–87 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell is emitted, and in SSB cell production, ∼88–130 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell, depending on their specific electrode stack configuration. The results demonstrate that LFP (lithium–iron–phosphate) cells require the least energy for production across all battery types under analysis. Furthermore, the findings indicate that, in terms of global warming potential (GWP), LFP and NMC900 (nickel–manganese–cobalt) cells are the most sustainable battery types, at least when focusing solely on battery cell production and neglecting subsequent use phases. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that by optimizing the cell designs and their production, the environmental impact of battery cell production can be reduced in the short term by up to −38%. This allows the production of LFP battery cells with a low GWP of ∼37 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell and NMC900 cells with ∼44 kgCO2‐eq/kWhcell. Moreover, there is considerable room for improvement in other major LIB cell types. This article met the requirements for a gold‐gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.