On the Sustainability of Lithium-Ion Battery-Powered Electric Vehicles: Critical Review, Analysis, and Perspectives

Abstract

With the rapid growth of the global lithium-ion battery-powered electric vehicle (EV) market, their overall sustainability becomes an emerging concern. This work reviews the most up-to-date literature and provides our own critical analysis and perspectives. The topics covered by this study include resource sustainability and greener manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions of electric vehicles, and the impact of electric vehicle charging on the power grid. Briefly, the raw materials face low supply risks as the cathodes switch to low cobalt scenarios. For the greenhouse gas emissions, we first derive the equations for calculation of emissions from vehicle production, lithium-ion battery production, and the electric vehicle use phase. Subsequently, a heuristic-based method is adopted to determine the parameters and coefficients, while an Excel spreadsheet is created for facile calculations of the GHG emissions. This spreadsheet is included in the Supporting Information for free download and use. The benefits of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emission reduction for electric vehicles are obvious compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. In the future, these benefits will be further augmented by grid electricity decarbonization and deployment of more effective end-of-pipe air pollutant control measures. The charging of electric vehicles poses negative impacts on the stability of the power grid. However, if managed properly, these impacts can be effectively mitigated; moreover, EVs can even promote renewable electricity incorporation. Furthermore, this study summarizes greener manufacturing practices in lithium-ion battery production, which are beneficial for both resource sustainability and life-cycle emission reduction of electric vehicles.