Life Cycle Assessment Comparison of LiFePO4 and Li-NMC batteries and Transportation Methods for Electric Vehicle Applications

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered environmentally friendly compared to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). However, EV battery manufacturing and transport poses notable environmental risks such as global warming potential. In the current EV market, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries and lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries have been used, though a new wave of LFP vehicles have recently started production, leading us to inquire about their environmental impacts. In this study we use OpenLCA to perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) and compare the environmental impacts of LFP and NMC batteries as well as marine and aviation modes of transport using manufacturing and transport data from the 2023 IDEMAT database. It is important to note that the current database is limited in both the range of available products for analysis and the customization options for simulations. Based on the publicly available information, we output 1 kg of battery cells, 4.41x10⁸ tons-km (tkm) of the container ship, and 4.42x10⁸ tkm of air traffic. We compared three impact categories for the battery cells from the ReCiPe Midpoint (H) impact assessment method: PM formation, mineral resource scarcity, and global warming impact (GWI, potential CO₂ emissions), but only GWI for the transportation phase. LFP batteries formed four times less particulate matter and had almost six times less mineral resource scarcity than NMC batteries, but more than eight times greater GWI. Additionally, Air traffic showed 108 times greater GWI than marine transport did. Based on the limited database online, we find LFP batteries and air transport to contribute more to the most concerning issue of the three, global warming, than their counterparts. With more databases coming, a more comprehensive analysis of the batteries could be conducted, along with the development of other simulation strategies, databases, and impact assessment methods to provide a thorough comparison among different batteries and transport methods.