"The application of power batteries and energy storage batteries provides key support for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, but the battery industry should also lead by example and take its own carbon reduction as an important goal." A statement by Zeng Yuqun, chairman of THE NINGDE times, recently triggered a heated discussion in the industry.
At present, the electrification of automobiles has become an irreversible development trend, and at the same time, the demand for lithium batteries has also ushered in explosive growth. According to industry analyst bloomberg new energy finance forecast, the global demand for power batteries will reach 2700 GWh in 2030, of which the largest increase will come from the power batteries of passenger cars. In the eyes of industry insiders, low carbon or even zero carbon is the current new requirements for batteries and related enterprises. In the future, zero carbonization of power batteries will become an important foundation for traffic decarbonization.
(Wen 丨 Intern reporter Yao Meijiao)
Enterprises have strengthened carbon emission management
According to Sun Fengchun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the carbon emissions generated by the production of a fuel passenger car are 9.2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, while the carbon emissions generated by the production of a ternary power battery passenger car are 14.6 tons, and the lithium iron phosphate battery passenger car is 14.7 tons. It can be seen that in terms of the production stage, electric vehicles are not currently low-carbon.
Ma Xiaoli, deputy secretary-general of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, said that the development of the power battery industry needs to attach great importance to production and carbon reduction. It is estimated that the energy consumption required for ternary batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries per kWh at this stage is 82.91 kWh and 85.78 kWh, respectively, and the carbon emissions are 50,600 tons /GWh and 52,300 tons /GWh, mainly concentrated in the production of cathode materials, anode materials and batteries, accounting for nearly 90% of the total.
At present, more and more battery companies are aware of the need to strengthen carbon emission management in the battery production process. For example, Hive Energy has announced the creation of an AI intelligent ecological alliance to improve efficiency, improve quality and conduct carbon traceability through artificial intelligence, advanced analysis and edge/cloud computing technologies; Envision Technology Group launched the world's first zero-carbon industrial park in Ordos, and built a 20 GWh energy storage power battery production capacity and industrial chain ecological project, aiming to build a "wind + light + storage + smart microgrid" system and steam supply electrification, to achieve more than 80% of the direct supply of green electricity.
In addition, domestic battery companies such as Zhongxin Airlines, Ewell Lithium Energy, Hefei Guoxuan, Sunwoda, Anchi Technology, Ruipu Energy, Andeng Technology are also studying carbon emission reduction in the process of battery production and manufacturing, and actively exploring carbon neutral paths for power battery production.
Create a low-carbon industrial chain
In addition to reducing carbon emissions at the upstream raw material production end, material recycling and cascade utilization of waste batteries are also effective measures to achieve carbon emission management in the lithium battery industry chain. According to the "2030 New Energy Vehicle Battery Recycling Economy Potential Research Report" released by the global environmental organization Greenpeace, from 2021 to 2030, China's decommissioned power batteries will reach 708 GWh, and the effective cascade utilization of these batteries will reduce carbon emissions by nearly 33.42 million tons compared with the manufacture of the same amount of new batteries.
Sun Fengchun believes that by improving manufacturing technology and recycling lithium-ion batteries, carbon dioxide emissions in the production process can be greatly reduced. "In the use stage, electric vehicles emit 2%-43% less emissions than fuel vehicles, on this basis, if the power consumption of electric vehicles is reduced, the proportion of new energy electricity use is increased, and the emission reduction will be further improved." In the end-of-life recycling stage, the recovery of electric vehicles can reduce emissions by 5.1 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, so that emissions from the production stage can be reduced to 9.8 tons, a reduction of about 34%. ”
Cao Guangping, an independent researcher of new energy and intelligent networked vehicles, suggested that five measures should be taken to achieve low carbonization of the industrial chain: "One is to adopt the technical route of hybrid or pure electric vehicle models with as few batteries as possible; the second is to innovate technology to minimize the 100-kilometer power consumption of vehicles, thereby reducing the battery or reducing the charging power of the vehicle; the third is to use batteries with long cycle life as much as possible, which is also equivalent to greatly reducing the amount of battery replacement; fourth, prolonging battery life, battery life extension by 50%-100%. It is equivalent to reducing the carbon emissions of the battery industry by about 50%-100%; the fifth is to improve the battery material recycling industry chain, especially to recycle high-carbon battery materials. ”
"In the next step, the mainland power battery industry needs to further reduce the level of production energy consumption from the aspects of optimizing the battery production process, increasing the scale of clean energy power supply, and improving the battery recycling system." Ma Xiaoli said.
Building a Power Battery "Carbon Footprint"
Globally, in recent years, the EU's carbon emission requirements have become more stringent. In December 2020, the European Commission proposed a new battery regulation requiring that from July 1, 2024, only electric vehicle batteries that have established carbon footprint declarations be placed on the market. At the same time, the European Commission has proposed the establishment of new requirements and targets for the content of recycled materials and for the collection, handling and recycling of batteries at the end of the recovery period. Based on these changes, establishing a carbon footprint system is an unavoidable lesson for companies that want to enter the European market.
It is understood that the mainland's current calculation principles for carbon emissions have not yet been benchmarked against the global standard and formed a set of national standards. Many industry insiders agreed that the mainland should speed up the establishment of carbon emission accounting methods for the power battery industry that is in line with international standards.
"Europe is already developing new battery laws that require a carbon footprint over the life cycle of batteries. The mainland also needs to study and put forward its own carbon footprint accounting standards and regulatory requirements as soon as possible, and the whole industry chain will work together to reduce carbon. Zeng Yuqun appealed.
"In terms of dealing with trade barriers to foreign carbon emissions, one is to take the high requirements of carbon emissions as an input condition from the source of battery research and development, and do not use or use less battery materials that do not meet local standards; the second is to innovate new technologies for low-carbon battery production processes; the third is to establish a battery recycling system nearby, and try to combine it with the vehicle sales system." Cao Guangping suggested.
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Produced by | China Energy News (ID:cnenergy)
Trainee Editor 丨Li Zemin
Editor 丨Li Huiying