Lithium-ion (LI) and lead-acid (LA) batteries have shown useful applications for energy storage system in a microgrid. The specific energy density (energy per unit mass) is more for LI battery whereas it is lower in case of LA battery.
This study aims to establish a life cycle evaluation model of retired EV lithium-ion batteries and new lead-acid batteries applied in the energy storage system, compare their environmental impacts, and provide data reference for the secondary utilization of lithium-ion batteries and the development prospect of energy storage batteries.
Lead batteries are very well established both for automotive and industrial applications and have been successfully applied for utility energy storage but there are a range of competing technologies including Li-ion, sodium-sulfur and flow batteries that are used for energy storage.
The LIB outperform the lead-acid batteries. Specifically, the NCA battery chemistry has the lowest climate change potential. The main reasons for this are that the LIB has a higher energy density and a longer lifetime, which means that fewer battery cells are required for the same energy demand as lead-acid batteries. Fig. 4.
Studies have shown that LFP batteries can maintain more than 95 % of their capacity after 1000 cycles . Therefore, lithium-ion batteries can replace lead-acid batteries and have broad prospects in terms of energy storage . The production phase of batteries is an energy-intensive process, which also causes many pollutant emissions.
Conclusions This research contributes to evaluating a comparative cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) and lead-acid battery systems for grid energy storage applications. This LCA study could serve as a methodological reference for further research in LCA for LIB.