Circular economy considerations in choices of LCA methodology: How to handle EV battery repurposing?

Magnus Schulz , Niki Bey, Monia Niero, Michael Hauschild

27th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference (LCE2020)Advancing Life Cycle Engineering : from technological eco-efficiency to technology that supports a world that meets the development goals and the absolute sustainability

Growing Electric Vehicle (EV) markets and increasing focus on Circular Economy (CE) strategies have stimulated research in the modelling of EV battery repurposing as a special case of product re-use in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This paper reviews the methods suggested in literature. Based on the results, the study proposes three types of LCA approaches on EV battery repurposing, taking the perspective of an automotive manufacturer in a CE context. Furthermore, the paper suggests a classification of EV battery repurposing cases depending on the chosen reference scenario and derives directions for future research.