The rapid expansion of lithium-ion battery (LIB) production to gigafactory scale has intensified the demand for more sustainable and cost-efficient manufacturing technologies. Within the cell production chain, electrode manufacturing remains a key innovation target, as conventional coating and drying processes substantially contribute to total cell costs and energy demand. The dry battery electrode (DBE) manufacturing technique emerges as a promising alternative by eliminating solvent-based processing and the subsequent drying step, thereby offering considerable potential to reduce both production costs and the overall carbon footprint.
In this study, we present an in-depth evaluation of DBE manufacturing for LiFePO₄ (LFP) cathodes, focusing on its economic and environmental performance compared with conventional wet processing routes. Building upon and extending the open-source CellEst 3.0 model [1] with primary experimental and industrial data, multiple production scenarios for prismatic cells are investigated. The considered scenarios include a pessimistic and an optimistic DBE case, which are benchmarked against wet-processed cathodes based on both N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and water. The optimistic DBE scenario integrates prospective process and electrode optimizations that could enhance the competitiveness of DBE manufacturing.
The findings highlight the relevance of DBE technology as a key enabler for sustainable, large-scale LIB production. Under the optimistic scenario, costs reductions exceeding 9% and GWP decreases of around 2.5% are achievable compared with aqueous LFP cathode processing. Economic savings in electrode manufacturing alone surpass 15%, primarily driven by the elimination of coating and drying steps and further improvements in dry calendering. A complementary sensitivity analysis indicates that electrode thickness and porosity exert the strongest influence on both total cell costs and GWP, underscoring their critical role in optimizing DBE-based production strategies.

References
[1] J. Ruppert, P. Voß, L. Ihlbrock, J. Palm, S. Lux, J. Leker, Analyzing material and production costs for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries using process-based cost modeling – CellEst 3.0, Journal of Power Sources Advances 36 (2025) 100190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powera.2025.100190.