Published December 2022
The dominance of lithium-ion batteries in the EV battery market will likely continue for at least a decade, with innovations in nickel-based materials such as NMC that enable longer driving ranges.
This first-of-a-kind report presents design and Level 3 economics for processes in the NMC 532 and NMC 811 production chains. For each chain, three processes are independently operated in separate plants. The first process produces a precursor to the cathode active material (CAM) and the second yields the CAM itself. The third process generates battery pouch cells and packs these into modules.
The two production chains are designed to make the same number of pouch battery cells using the same weight of CAM. The plant capacities are in the mid- to high-end range of current gigawatt EV battery factories, the largest of which is about 24 GWh in 2022. As the energy density is higher for 811 CAM than for 532 CAM, the annual battery plant capacities examined amount to 19.5 GWh and 16 GWh, respectively. The processes producing CAM and its precursor are scaled accordingly. Production costs for cells and modules are presented on weight (per kg) and energy (per kWh) bases.
Background technologies for NMC-based materials and battery cells are discussed in relation to process design. Data and information tables detailing design bases and assumptions, process streams, equipment items, utilities consumption, raw material unit consumptions, other variable costs, and labor are provided and discussed in relation to production cost and product value.
Bottom-up economics for the six processes are presented and compared for plant locations in China and the U.S. The status of the EV battery industry is overviewed, and key technical aspects of NMC battery manufacture are described. The waste streams and carbon footprints for each process are provided and discussed.
Lastly, the iPEP Navigator NMC for EV interactive module provided with the report gives an economic snapshot for each process, allowing the user to select and compare the processes, units, and geographical regions of interest.