This study breaks down the supply chain for an NMC811/graphite prismatic battery cell, identifying 27 crucial processes from the mines to the final cell factory. We are investigating the logistical network formed by the top 3 producing countries in each process. For this, we developed a model to evaluate the determined locations in the network. We are creating pairs of production sites matched based on user-defined identifiers combined with real-world geographical and infrastructure data. This data enables us to accurately determine travel distance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expand the model to further parameters such as cost.
By constructing the model around production pairs, we can study specific parts of the supply chain or construct complete supply networks without running many or repeating calculations. This is a strong advantage as the number of possible paths grows exponentially with the number of processes.
For this study, we created four cases for battery cell manufacturing and combined them with automotive battery back manufacturing in Germany. The cases are split into two categories: Case 1 and Case 2, which show state-of-the-art networks using the current primary producer in each process, with the battery production taking place in China (Case 1) or Poland (Case 2). Case 3 and Case 4 are optimized, targeting minimal GHG emissions for the total supply network with cell production in Europe. Case 3 is an optimization of the original input data set. In contrast, Case 4, a cathode-active material factory, has been added in Europe to show an optimized supply network with cathode-active material and cell production in Europe.
This study shows results on the distance traveled by the raw materials of an NMC811/graphite prismatic battery cell before it even makes it to a car to start its active life. We demonstrate the scale emissions from transport in the battery supply chain and the impact of optimizing the global battery supply chain to minimize emission factors.