Comparative life cycle assessment of lithium iron phosphate and nickel manganese cobalt batteries for electric vehicles: An Indian perspective

Abstract

With the growing environmental concerns and global shift towards sustainable transportation, adopting electric vehicles (EVs) has become indispensable. In this context, considering the Indian electricity mix and pollution landscape, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing, use, and recycling phases of EV batteries. Two widely used battery chemistries in Indian EV market, viz., Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) and Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), were compared in this study. The LCA was performed using OpenLCA®, employing the ReCiPe 2016 methodology along with Monte-Carlo simulations. The results showed that NMC batteries had nearly double the manufacturing-phase global warming potential (1208 vs. 573 kg CO₂-eq) and higher use-phase emissions (1042 vs. 706 kg CO₂-eq) than that of LFP batteries. The water consumption in NMC batteries' manufacturing (153.6 m³) was found to be six times greater than LFP batteries (25.8 m³), while recycling offered limited mitigation, contributing <2 % of total emissions. Overall, LFP batteries consistently outperformed NMC batteries across air pollution, water pollution, and toxicity indicators, making them more suitable for India's cost-sensitive and resource-constrained context. Current socio-economic limitations in India's battery recycling infrastructure were also examined, highlighting the need for more robust and sustainable end-of-life practices. The findings obtained from this study, aim to support the development of a low-carbon EV ecosystem in India in line with the national sustainability targets.