Breaking it down: a techno-economic assessment of the impact of battery pack design on disassembly costs

Laura Lander; Chris Tagnon; Viet Nguyen-Tien; Emma Kendrick; Robert J.R. Elliott; Andrew P. Abbott; Jacqueline S. Edge; Gregory J. Offer

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120437

Breaking it down: a techno-economic assessment of the impact of battery pack design on disassembly costs

Laura Lander^*, Chris Tagnon, Viet Nguyen-Tien, Emma Kendrick, Robert J.R. Elliott, Andrew P. Abbott, Jacqueline S. Edge^*, Gregory J. Offer^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The electrification of the transport sector is a critical part of the net-zero transition. The mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) powered by lithium-ion batteries in the coming decade will inevitably lead to a large amount of battery waste, which needs handling in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Battery recycling is a sustainable treatment option at the battery end-of-life that supports a circular economy. However, heterogeneity in pack designs across battery manufacturers are hampering the establishment of an efficient disassembly process, hence making recycling less viable. A comprehensive techno-economic assessment of the disassembly process was conducted, which identified cost hotspots in battery pack designs and to guide design optimisation strategies that help save time and cost for end-of-life treatment. The analyses include six commercially available EV battery packs: Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3, Peugeot 208, BAIC and BYD Han. The BAIC and BYD battery packs exhibit lower disassembly costs (US$50.45 and US$47.41 per pack, respectively), compared to the Peugeot 208 and Nissan Leaf (US$186.35 and US$194.11 per pack, respectively). This variation in disassembly cost is due mostly to the substantial differences in number of modules and fasteners. The economic assessment suggests that full automation is required to make disassembly viable by 2040, as it could boost disassembly capacity by up to 600 %, while substantially achieving cost savings of up to US$190 M per year.

Original language	English
Article number	120437
Number of pages	9
Journal	Applied Energy
Volume	331
Early online date	5 Dec 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120437
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
L.L., J.S.E., and G.J.O. would like to thank the Faraday Institution for their support through the ‘Multi-scale Modelling (MSM)’ project (Grant No. FIRG025). C.T. thanks the funding for his undergraduate research opportunity through the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial College London. Funding from the Faraday Institution project, ReLiB (Grant No. FIRG027), is also acknowledged.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

Battery pack design
Battery pack disassembly
Circular economy
Electric vehicles
Techno-economics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Building and Construction
Mechanical Engineering
General Energy
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120437Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

LanderL2022BreakingFinal published version, 1.97 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Recycling of Li-ion Batteries 2
Allan, P. (Co-Investigator), Anderson, P. (Principal Investigator), Leeke, G. (Co-Investigator), Slater, P. (Co-Investigator), Stolkin, R. (Co-Investigator), Reed, D. (Co-Investigator), Kendrick, E. (Co-Investigator) & Lee, R. (Co-Investigator)
Faraday Institution
1/04/21 → 31/03/23
Project: Research
Multi-Scale Modelling 2
Kendrick, E. (Principal Investigator)
Faraday Institution
1/04/21 → 31/03/23
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Breaking it down: a techno-economic assessment of the impact of battery pack design on disassembly costs",

abstract = "The electrification of the transport sector is a critical part of the net-zero transition. The mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) powered by lithium-ion batteries in the coming decade will inevitably lead to a large amount of battery waste, which needs handling in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Battery recycling is a sustainable treatment option at the battery end-of-life that supports a circular economy. However, heterogeneity in pack designs across battery manufacturers are hampering the establishment of an efficient disassembly process, hence making recycling less viable. A comprehensive techno-economic assessment of the disassembly process was conducted, which identified cost hotspots in battery pack designs and to guide design optimisation strategies that help save time and cost for end-of-life treatment. The analyses include six commercially available EV battery packs: Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3, Peugeot 208, BAIC and BYD Han. The BAIC and BYD battery packs exhibit lower disassembly costs (US$50.45 and US$47.41 per pack, respectively), compared to the Peugeot 208 and Nissan Leaf (US$186.35 and US$194.11 per pack, respectively). This variation in disassembly cost is due mostly to the substantial differences in number of modules and fasteners. The economic assessment suggests that full automation is required to make disassembly viable by 2040, as it could boost disassembly capacity by up to 600 %, while substantially achieving cost savings of up to US$190 M per year.",

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note = "Funding Information: L.L., J.S.E., and G.J.O. would like to thank the Faraday Institution for their support through the {\textquoteleft}Multi-scale Modelling (MSM){\textquoteright} project (Grant No. FIRG025). C.T. thanks the funding for his undergraduate research opportunity through the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial College London. Funding from the Faraday Institution project, ReLiB (Grant No. FIRG027), is also acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s)",

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AU - Elliott, Robert J.R.

AU - Abbott, Andrew P.

AU - Edge, Jacqueline S.

AU - Offer, Gregory J.

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N2 - The electrification of the transport sector is a critical part of the net-zero transition. The mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) powered by lithium-ion batteries in the coming decade will inevitably lead to a large amount of battery waste, which needs handling in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Battery recycling is a sustainable treatment option at the battery end-of-life that supports a circular economy. However, heterogeneity in pack designs across battery manufacturers are hampering the establishment of an efficient disassembly process, hence making recycling less viable. A comprehensive techno-economic assessment of the disassembly process was conducted, which identified cost hotspots in battery pack designs and to guide design optimisation strategies that help save time and cost for end-of-life treatment. The analyses include six commercially available EV battery packs: Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3, Peugeot 208, BAIC and BYD Han. The BAIC and BYD battery packs exhibit lower disassembly costs (US$50.45 and US$47.41 per pack, respectively), compared to the Peugeot 208 and Nissan Leaf (US$186.35 and US$194.11 per pack, respectively). This variation in disassembly cost is due mostly to the substantial differences in number of modules and fasteners. The economic assessment suggests that full automation is required to make disassembly viable by 2040, as it could boost disassembly capacity by up to 600 %, while substantially achieving cost savings of up to US$190 M per year.

AB - The electrification of the transport sector is a critical part of the net-zero transition. The mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) powered by lithium-ion batteries in the coming decade will inevitably lead to a large amount of battery waste, which needs handling in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Battery recycling is a sustainable treatment option at the battery end-of-life that supports a circular economy. However, heterogeneity in pack designs across battery manufacturers are hampering the establishment of an efficient disassembly process, hence making recycling less viable. A comprehensive techno-economic assessment of the disassembly process was conducted, which identified cost hotspots in battery pack designs and to guide design optimisation strategies that help save time and cost for end-of-life treatment. The analyses include six commercially available EV battery packs: Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3, Peugeot 208, BAIC and BYD Han. The BAIC and BYD battery packs exhibit lower disassembly costs (US$50.45 and US$47.41 per pack, respectively), compared to the Peugeot 208 and Nissan Leaf (US$186.35 and US$194.11 per pack, respectively). This variation in disassembly cost is due mostly to the substantial differences in number of modules and fasteners. The economic assessment suggests that full automation is required to make disassembly viable by 2040, as it could boost disassembly capacity by up to 600 %, while substantially achieving cost savings of up to US$190 M per year.

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ER -

Breaking it down: a techno-economic assessment of the impact of battery pack design on disassembly costs

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Recycling of Li-ion Batteries 2

Multi-Scale Modelling 2

Cite this