E-mobility is enjoying a boom around the globe. The demand for electrically-powered vehicles is increasing in the light of sustainable developments and the need to reduce traffic in big cities. As part of this process, the lithium-ion battery systems (LIBs) are one of the most important and most expensive components in electric vehicles.
Lithium-ion batteries: energy supplies for the future
As metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite are used to manufacture LIBs, they currently account for about 30 percent of the overall costs of a vehicle. A new lithium-ion battery costs about EUR 129 per kilowatt hour at this time. Further price reductions are forecast during the next few years.1 According to BlooombergNEF, next-generation technologies such as silicon and lithium metal anodes, solid-state electrolytes, new cathode materials and new cell manufacturing processes will play an important role in this process.
However, alongside their price and operating range, the sustainable production of LIBs is playing an increasingly important role too. While there may be delivery bottlenecks because of the locations of the raw materials, most of which are situated in Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Australia, the USA and China, battery production is set to take place very close to markets (the automobile manufacturers and final customers) in future. As a result, manufacturers of battery cells are increasingly announcing the expansion of battery cell production capacity in Europe, including regions such as Hungary, Poland, Scandinavia and Germany.
This has a major benefit: sustainably generated electricity can already be used in Europe to manufacture the battery systems and this further reduces the CO2 footprint of LIBs. Europe can also handle the manufacturers’ need for qualified personnel. However, there is a great deal to consider when it comes to producing and storing the LIBs – before recycling the batteries at a later stage.
"There’s a great deal of module variety with battery systems for electric vehicles. Electric and traditional vehicles are often assembled alternately at the production site too in order to meet the daily volume target. In order to ensure that this functions as quickly and precisely as possible, the drive system and the battery unit must be supplied in sequence."
says Dr Marcus Ewig | Managing Director of Rhenus Automotive SE, which is an automobile logistics services provider that specialises in assembly and logistics operations.
Automobile logistics includes battery recycling from electric vehicles
“The correct storage and assembly of the battery systems should take place very close to where they’re inserted into electric vehicles because of the enormous weights and dimensions involved. Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are therefore choosing suppliers and automobile logistics partners, which handle the pre-assembly work and storage at their own business sites. The storage space at the production sites can then be used for other purposes.”
Any storage of LIBs must also take place in line with special requirements and standards, such as the German water protection and fire protection regulations. The just-in-time and just-in-sequence deliveries to the production site can then be made from the warehouse.
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