IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i22p15321-d976617.html

Development of a Reverse Logistics Modeling for End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries and Its Impact on Recycling Viability—A Case Study to Support End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Battery Strategy in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanna Gonzales-Calienes

    (Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada)

  • Ben Yu

    (Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada)

  • Farid Bensebaa

    (Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada)

Abstract

The deployment of a sustainable recycling network for electric vehicle batteries requires the development of an infrastructure to collect and deliver batteries to several locations from which they can be transported to companies for repurposing or recycling. This infrastructure is still not yet developed in North America, and consequently, spent electric vehicle batteries in Canada are dispersed throughout the country. The purpose of this reverse logistics study is to develop a spatial modeling framework to identify the optimal locations of battery pack dismantling hubs and recycling processing facilities in Canada and quantify the environmental and economic impacts of the supporting infrastructure network for electric vehicle lithium-ion battery end-of-life management. The model integrates the geographic information system, material flow analysis for estimating the availability of spent battery stocks, and the life cycle assessment approach to assess the environmental impact. To minimize the costs and greenhouse gas emission intensity, three regional recycling clusters, including dismantling hubs, recycling processing, and scrap metal smelting facilities, were identified. These three clusters will have the capacity to satisfy the annual flow of disposed batteries. The Quebec–Maritimes cluster presents the lowest payload distance, life-cycle carbon footprint, and truck transportation costs than the Ontario and British Columbia–Prairies clusters. Access to end-of-life batteries not only makes the battery supply chain circular, but also provides incentives for establishing recycling facilities. The average costs and carbon intensity of recycled cathode raw materials are CAD 1.29/kg of the spent battery pack and 0.7 kg CO 2e /kg of the spent battery pack, respectively, which were estimated based on the optimization of the transportation distances.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanna Gonzales-Calienes & Ben Yu & Farid Bensebaa, 2022. "Development of a Reverse Logistics Modeling for End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries and Its Impact on Recycling Viability—A Case Study to Support End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Battery Strategy in Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-23, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:15321-:d:976617
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/15321/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/15321/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Aichberger & Gerfried Jungmeier, 2020. "Environmental Life Cycle Impacts of Automotive Batteries Based on a Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Wilson, Matthew & Goffnett, Sean, 2022. "Reverse logistics: Understanding end-of-life product management," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 643-655.
    3. Nguyen-Tien, Viet & Dai, Qiang & Harper, Gavin D.J. & Anderson, Paul A. & Elliott, Robert J.R., 2022. "Optimising the geospatial configuration of a future lithium ion battery recycling industry in the transition to electric vehicles and a circular economy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    4. Silvia Bobba & Isabella Bianco & Umberto Eynard & Samuel Carrara & Fabrice Mathieux & Gian Andrea Blengini, 2020. "Bridging Tools to Better Understand Environmental Performances and Raw Materials Supply of Traction Batteries in the Future EU Fleet," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-25, May.
    5. Vidovic, Milorad & Dimitrijevic, Branka & Ratkovic, Branislava & Simic, Vladimir, 2011. "A novel covering approach to positioning ELV collection points," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-9.
    6. Li, Lin & Dababneh, Fadwa & Zhao, Jing, 2018. "Cost-effective supply chain for electric vehicle battery remanufacturing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 277-286.
    7. Wang, Lei & Wang, Xiang & Yang, Wenxian, 2020. "Optimal design of electric vehicle battery recycling network – From the perspective of electric vehicle manufacturers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, He & Hu, Jiayao & Yang, Ying, 2025. "Towards a circular supply chain for retired electric vehicle batteries: A systematic literature review," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    2. Lander, Laura & Tagnon, Chris & Nguyen-Tien, Viet & Kendrick, Emma & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Abbott, Andrew P. & Edge, Jacqueline S. & Offer, Gregory J., 2023. "Breaking it down: A techno-economic assessment of the impact of battery pack design on disassembly costs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    3. Aishwarya, V.M. & Ekren, Banu Yetkin & Singh, Tej & Singh, Vedant, 2025. "Integrating sustainability across the lifecycle of electric vehicle batteries: Circular supply chain challenges, innovations, and global policy impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    4. Claudiu Vasile Kifor & Niculina Alexandra Grigore, 2023. "Circular Economy Approaches for Electrical and Conventional Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-28, April.
    5. Vimal K. E. K. & Jayakrishna Kandasamy & Vezhavendhan R. & Bostine Bose & Arun Kumar Menon & Sivakumar K., 2024. "Digital technology adoption model for electric vehicle battery recycling supply chain - an influential relationship mapping," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1469-1508, December.
    6. Fangbing Liu & Jizi Li & Justin Z. Zhang & Zeping Tong & João Ferreira, 2025. "Optimal strategy for secondary use of spent electric vehicle batteries: sell, lease, or both," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 355(2), pages 1957-1987, December.
    7. Hao Hao & Wenxian Xu & Fangfang Wei & Chuanliang Wu & Zhaoran Xu, 2022. "Reward–Penalty vs. Deposit–Refund: Government Incentive Mechanisms for EV Battery Recycling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Nenming Wang & Guwen Tang, 2022. "A Review on Environmental Efficiency Evaluation of New Energy Vehicles Using Life Cycle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-35, March.
    9. Aristotelis Lygizos & Eleni Kastanaki & Apostolos Giannis, 2025. "Designing a Reverse Logistics Network for Electric Vehicle Battery Collection, Remanufacturing, and Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-23, August.
    10. Shuang Yao & Leke Wu & Donghua Yu, 2023. "Synergy between Electric Vehicle Manufacturers and Battery Recyclers through Technology and Innovation: A Game Theory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Rüther, Tom & Plank, Christian & Schamel, Maximilian & Danzer, Michael A., 2023. "Detection of inhomogeneities in serially connected lithium-ion batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    12. Luo, Jiaqi & Yang, Ying & Jiang, Yan, 2025. "Assessing the antecedents, processes, and consequences of sustainable electric vehicle battery recycling: A systematic literature review," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    13. Jaššo, Kamil & Mačák, Martin & Šedina, Martin & Máca, Josef & Harper, Gavin D.J. & Kazda, Tomáš, 2025. "Ecological impact of vehicles: A comparative study within the Czech Republic and other Visegrad 4 countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    14. Peng Xing & Junzhu Yao, 2022. "Power Battery Echelon Utilization and Recycling Strategy for New Energy Vehicles Based on Blockchain Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Jian-fei, Li & Han, Peng & Xiao-yu, Luo, 2024. "A predictive model for the security and stability of the lithium-ion battery industry chain based on price modal combinations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Gaurvendra Singh & Ashutosh Pandey, 2026. "Environmental sustainability integrated supplier selection in electric vehicle supply chains: a grey relational analysis approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 7861-7889, March.
    17. Charli Sitinjak & Rozmi Ismail & Zurinah Tahir & Rizqon Fajar & Wiyanti Fransisca Simanullang & Edward Bantu & Karuhanga Samuel & Rosniza Aznie Che Rose & Muhamad Razuhanafi Mat Yazid & Zambri Harun, 2022. "Acceptance of ELV Management: The Role of Social Influence, Knowledge, Attitude, Institutional Trust, and Health Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.
    18. Tang, Yanyan & Zhang, Qi & Li, Yaoming & Li, Hailong & Pan, Xunzhang & Mclellan, Benjamin, 2019. "The social-economic-environmental impacts of recycling retired EV batteries under reward-penalty mechanism," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Jin Li & Feng Wang & Yu He, 2020. "Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Battery Swapping Considering Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-20, December.
    20. Pranjal Barman & Lachit Dutta & Brian Azzopardi, 2023. "Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain and Critical Materials: A Brief Survey of State of the Art," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:15321-:d:976617. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.