Lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles: combining Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessments

Electric vehicles (xEV) are a key low carbon technology for mobility. Although xEV have no tailpipe emissions, the production of traction batteries leads to environmental and social burdens. In this context, authors assess the environmental and social impacts of a cell of Lithium ion traction battery in order to identify the most relevant aspects and the potential added value of performing both the assessments. Results show the relevance of the resources in terms of both environmental and social impacts. Moreover, the social assessment results pointed out the relevance of the geographical boundaries, often overlooked for in the environmental analysis. The combination of both the assessment represents an added value to assess the sustainability of products; however, data collection (e.g. sources, quantities, quality) still represents a major bottleneck in this type of assessements.