Energy consumption of current and future production of lithium-ion and post lithium-ion battery cells
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Due to the rapidly increasing demand for electric vehicles, the need for battery cells is also increasing considerably. However, the production of battery cells requires enormous amounts of energy, which is expensive and produces greenhouse gas emissions. Here, by combining data from literature and from own research, we analyse how much energy lithium-ion battery (LIB) and post lithium-ion battery (PLIB) cell production requires on cell and macro-economic levels, currently and in the future (until 2040). On the cell level, we find that PLIB cells require less energy than LIB cells per produced cell energy. On the macro-economic level, we find that the energy consumption for the global production of LIB and PLIB cells will be 130,000 GWh if no measures are taken. Yet, it is possible to optimize future production and save up to 66% of this energy demand.
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A more recent study by Degen et al. (2023) predicted energy consumption values for cell manufacturing in 2040 ranging from 20 to 40 kWh kWh cell-1.
“A more recent study by Degen et al. (2023) predicted energy consumption values for cell manufacturing in 2040 ranging from 20 to 40 kWh kWh cell -1 .”
From Think global act local: The dependency of global lithium-ion battery emissions on production location and material sources (2024) · cites this paper as Degen et al. (2023)
A recent study found that Gigafactory energy consumption could be reduced up to 66% by 2040 by switching to post-LIB chemistries and improving production technologies, which would have an important effect on the CF.
“A recent study found that Gigafactory energy consumption could be reduced up to 66% by 2040 by switching to post-LIB chemistries and improving production technologies, which would have an important effect on the CF (Degen et al., 2023).”
From Think global act local: The dependency of global lithium-ion battery emissions on production location and material sources (2024) · cites this paper as Degen et al., 2023
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Sorted by citations
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- Authors
- Degen, F., Winter, M., Bendig, D., & Tübke, J.
- Affiliations
- Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production (DE)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- University of Münster (DE)
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Degen, F.
- Venue
- Nature Energy
- Published
- 2023-09-28
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1284-1295
- ISSN
- 2058-7546 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4387141402
- Cited by
- 861
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 301 · 2025: 365 · 2024: 192 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 63.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Energy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Fraunhofer-Publica (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (03XP0256)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advancements in Battery Materials
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
- Keywords
- lithium-ion batteries, post-lithium batteries, battery cell manufacturing, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, electric vehicles, energy demand projections, energy efficiency, battery manufacturing
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