A Techno-Economic Assessment of Cylindrical Spiral-Wound Lithium Ion Batteries: Can the Huge Factories Achieve Their Cost Goals?

Abstract

This talk will examine the techno-economics of Li-ion battery production with a focus on assessing the potential economies of scale that are purported for very large factories. A full front-to-back manufacturing model has been developed to address this question. The model is based on the Argonne BatPac tool that was originally created to describe the production of prismatic pouch configuration cells and has been extended to describe spiral-wound 18650 cells. Three different cathode chemistries have been considered: NCA, LMO, or NMC, and the costs of producing cells and packs at different volumes with different supply chain inputs are assessed. Further, an analysis on the impact of the market price of lithium-containing precursors on battery and back costing will be offered. Our findings suggest that there is an absolute minimum in production cost for this format of these cells and this minimum is higher than values commonly described in the media. We also suggest that the price of lithium has little impact on cell and pack costing on a per kWh basis. We will offer a complete accounting of our analysis and an assessment of what materials and manufacturing changes stand to have the largest cost impact when producing cells and packs at a massive scale.