Lithium-ion batteries

This page is about NMC-type lithium-ion batteries (nickel-manganese-cobalt). For cobalt-free lithium-based batteries, see also: LFP batteries.

Lithium-ion (or li-ion for short) is one of the most common types of rechargeable batteries used today(...)( they're popular because they can hold more charge than most other rechargeable batteries can ) - found in everything from phones to tablets to electric vehicles. But when it comes to large-scale energy storage(...)( which includes scaling up EVs. The only reason why today's EVs can use li-ion is because they're such a small fraction of vehicles on the road so far. ) - the kind needed for green energy to solve climate change - li-ion batteries can't be produced in the insanely massive amount that would be needed(...)( over 20 times more li-ion batteries than have ever been produced in the history of the world(...)( calculation will be added to this page soon ) ). There will have to be other solutions.

Cobalt and other minerals

Major problem

If all the world's vehicles were lithium-ion electric, how many minerals would be needed:

ev.battery

65.2 kWh

Energy capacity of the average electric vehicle battery

Useable battery capacity of full electric vehicles
https://ev-database.org/cheatsheet/useable-battery-capacity-electric-car

world.cars

1.446 billion

How Many Cars Are There In The World in 2022?
https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2021/06/how-many-cars-are-there-in-the-world/

commercial_factor

2

Without this, we'd be calculating for just personal vehicles. But we also need to factor in commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks. These vary widely in size, and data is hard to find, so for simplicity sake, we just assume that they'd add up to about the same as personal vehicles - thus doubling total energy storage needed. This assumption is based on the fact that freight trucks are a somewhat smaller share of energy demand than passenger vehicles, but the trucks probably need a longer range.

li_ion.cell_voltage

3.6 volts

Voltage of a single lithium-ion cell.

https://www.cei.washington.edu/education/science-of-solar/battery-technology/
https://www.fluxpower.com/blog/what-is-the-energy-density-of-a-lithium-ion-battery
It's 3.6 volts for the "cobalt type" of lithium-ion battery. Other types might have a very slightly different voltage.

li_ion.lithium_by_energy

0.3 grams per amp hour li_ion.cell_voltage

To store a given amount of energy in lithium-ion batteries, this is how much lithium would be needed.

https://batteryguy.com/kb/knowledge-base/how-to-calculate-the-lithium-content-in-a-battery/
The article says lithium per amp hour. We convert this to lithium per watt hour (energy), by including the cell voltage.

li_ion.cobalt_by_energy

20 kg per 100 kilowatt hours

To store a given amount of energy, in lithium-ion batteries (cobalt type), this is how much cobalt would be needed.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/reducing-reliance-cobalt-lithium-ion-batteries

cobalt.reserves

7.1 million tonnes

Cobalt metal: Total global mineral reserves

https://www.statista.com/statistics/264930/global-cobalt-reserves/

nickel.reserves

94 million tons

Global reserves of nickel metal

Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2021

lithium.reserves

18425000 tonnes

Lithium metal: Total global mineral reserves

https://www.statista.com/statistics/268790/countries-with-the-largest-lithium-reserves-worldwide/
Added up all the countries: 9,200,000 + 4,700,000 + 1,900,000 + 1,500,000 + 750,000 + 220,000 + 95,000 + 60,000 = 18,425,000 metric tons

(average-case estimate)(average-case estimate)

According to a meta-analysis: "In 2020, an average lithium-ion battery contained around 28.9 kilograms of nickel, 7.7 kilogram of cobalt, and 5.9 kilogram of lithium. [...] Based on the average battery composition in 2020 with 60 kWh capacity." Also note that 60 kWh is considered pretty "average" for the battery capacity of an electric car.

So, knowing this, we can do a quick estimate:

28.9 kg * world.cars * commercial_factor % nickel.reserves (calculation loading)

7.7 kg * world.cars * commercial_factor % cobalt.reserves (calculation loading)

5.9 kg * world.cars * commercial_factor % lithium.reserves (calculation loading)

Cobalt is the biggest issue, as we'd need to somehow mine 3 times more cobalt than Earth's mineral reserves. Such a scenario would motivate companies to strip-mine the ocean floor in desperate attempt to obtain enough cobalt - which would be disastrous for wildlife. Also note that cobalt is notorious for being mined by child labor. ^{[new page needed]}

Lithium and nickel are also cutting it close, nearly exhausting their global mineral reserves as well. TODO: How would that compare to the envionmental impact of oil mining (status quo)? ^{[RESEARCH needed]}

Best case, these minerals would only be mined once, assuming the EV batteries get recycled properly at their end of life. If not, the situation would get even worse with time, with even more mining needed than what was calculated above.

Note that the exact proportion of cobalt & nickel can vary by battery design, but there are always tradeoffs in the engineering. Cobalt is needed for stability (i.e. to prevent batteries from catching fire when minorly damaged).

As great as lithium-ion is for small electronic devices, it's simply not scalable enough for large-scale energy storage, because of the minerals. If we want all vehicles to be electric, we'll need some other battery type such as sodium-ion.

Energy in manufacturing

Not too bad

Averaged over the lifespan of the vehicle:

li_ion.rq_energy

57 kWh per kWh

Energy required to manufacture a lithium-ion battery

Factory energy only. DOES NOT include the energy involved in mining the materials.

"Based on public data on two different Li-ion battery manufacturing facilities, and adjusted results from a previous study, the most reasonable assumptions for the energy usage for manufacturing Li-ion battery cells appears to be 50–65 kWh of electricity per kWh of battery capacity."
Source:
Energy use for GWh-scale lithium-ion battery production
Institute of Physics - IOP Publishing
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ab5e1e

ev.lifespan

8 years

li_ion.rq_energy * ev.battery / ev.lifespan kWh/day (calculation loading)

Compared to how much energy you'd expect to consume by using the vehicle:

average_us_vehicle.mileage_by_time

32 miles/day

Distance driven by the average American vehicle

Top Numbers Driving America's Gasoline Demand
https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/blog/2022/05/26/top-numbers-driving-americas-gasoline-demand

electric_car.efficiency

100 miles per 34.6 kWh

The "gas mileage" equivalent for an average electric car.

Average Electric Car kWh Per Mile [Results From 231 EVs]
ecocostsavings.com/average-electric-car-kwh-per-mile
Data originally from epa.gov/fueleconomy

li_ion.charge_discharge_efficiency

85%

When you charge a lithium-ion battery, this much of the energy can be recovered. The rest is lost as heat.

Range: 80 to 90 %
from wikipedia; haven't found original source yet

average_us_vehicle.mileage_by_time / electric_car.efficiency / li_ion.charge_discharge_efficiency kWh/day (calculation loading)

From this perspective, it seems that the energy in manufacturing the battery is reasonable enough.

Note: This doesn't include the energy involved in mining for the minerals to make the battery. (...)( In general, the rarer the mineral, the more energy it takes to mine. ) But we already saw earlier that mining (cobalt) was a problem regardless.

Similar calculations could be done for non-vehicle energy storage.

Recyclability

^{[RESEARCH needed]}

This section has not been filled in yet.

See also

• Sodium-ion batteries - possibly a more scalable energy storage solution, but it isn't on the market yet.