Manufacturing energy analysis of lithium ion battery pack for electric vehicles

Lithium ion batteries (LIB) are widely used to power electric vehicles. Here we report a comprehensive manufacturing energy analysis of the popular LMO-graphite LIB pack used on Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt. A 24 kWh battery pack with 192 prismatic cells is analysed at each manufacturing process from mixing, coating, calendaring, notching till final cutting and assembly, with data collected and modelled from real industrial processes. It is found that 29.9 GJ of energy is embedded in the battery materials, 58.7 GJ energy consumed in the battery cell production, and 0.3 GJ energy for the final battery pack assembly.