Should battery cells be produced locally compared to China?

Producing battery cells locally compared to China on average saves 20-40% of carbon emissions, while onshoring cathode production would save up to a fifth additionally.

What is the location-specific CF of battery production?

The location-specific CF of battery production, associated with its energy demand for active material and cell manufacturing, and neglecting the contribution of materials (gate-to-gate), is shown in Fig. 4.

Are LCA datasets relevant for battery production?

The former fails to capture the effect of up-to-date LCA datasets on dominant production routes for key battery materials and the latter neglects market-dominant battery chemistries, lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (NCA) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) coming with a fundamentally different material demand.

What materials are excluded from battery production?

The full set of material demand to produce battery cells is shown in the supplementary tables (ST), with other materials that are used in significantly lower amounts in LIB manufacturing being excluded here by applying a 2 % cut-off rule. This led to the exclusion of materials such as carbon black, PVDF and other polymers.

How much money does T&E need to build a battery plant?

T&E estimates that developing all the announced plans for battery cell manufacturing, cathode and precursor facilities and lithium refining in Europe (including non-EU countries) will require EUR 215 billion in CAPEX and EUR 61 billion in annual OPEX, coming primarily from private investment.

Why are battery cells so expensive in Europe?

At the same time, both capital expenditure (CAPEX) and running, or operational (OPEX) costs, of building and running battery cell, component and material facilities are some of the highest in Europe. This is due to less expertise building these facilities, as well as due to higher energy and labour costs (at least compared to China).