All other steps consumed less than 2 kWh/kWh of battery cell capacity. The total amount of energy consumed during battery cell production was 41.48 kWh/kWh of battery cell capacity produced. Of this demand, 52% (21.38 kWh/kWh of battery cell capacity) was required as natural gas for drying and the drying rooms.
The energy consumption involved in industrial-scale manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries is a critical area of research. The substantial energy inputs, encompassing both power demand and energy consumption, are pivotal factors in establishing mass production facilities for battery manufacturing.
A comprehensive comparison of existing and future cell chemistries is currently lacking in the literature. Consequently, how energy consumption of battery cell production will develop, especially after 2030, but currently it is still unknown how this can be decreased by improving the cell chemistries and the production process.
Fourth, owing to large investments in battery production infrastructure, research and development, the resulting technology improvements and techno-economic effects promise a reduction in energy consumption per produced cell energy by two-thirds until 2040, compared with the present technology and know-how level.
The research team calculated that current lithium-ion battery and next-generation battery cell production require 20.3–37.5 kWh and 10.6–23.0 kWh of energy per kWh capacity of battery cell produced, respectively, with today’s manufacturing processes.
This study assumed electricity to be the only energy source in battery manufacturing processes, an assumption made to align with the reality in giga factories (Kurland, 2020). The European electricity mixture was used. ... ... It is estimated that producing one ton of lithium-ion requires 1,900 tons of water .