This study compares the costs of manufacturing high-performance 18650-size lithium-ion cells in China and in the United States. The comparison reflects all costs of constructing and staffing a stand-alone.
How to ensure cost-efficient battery cell manufacturing?
To ensure cost-efficient battery cell manufacturing, transparency is necessary regarding overall manufacturing costs, their cost drivers, and the monetary value of potential cost reductions. Driven by these requirements, a cost model for a large-scale battery cell factory is developed.
Is advanced battery production cost-competitive?
A comparison of the costs of battery cell production in the United States and in China indicates that highly automated production processes can make U.S.-based advanced battery manufacturing cost-competitive with Chinese production, and suggests that large-scale production of advanced batteries may be economically feasible in the United States. 2.
Why is battery manufacturing a cost sensitive process?
Battery manufacturing is very cost sensitive to the scrap produced due to the high number of process steps and the high share of material costs. The end-of-line scrap rate (x j = A g i n g & F i n a l C o n t r o l) indicates the percentage of rejected parts identified during process step j = A g i n g & F i n a l C o n t r o l.
Finding that bottom-up techniques and especially the process-based cost modelling technique fits best, a model for battery manufacturing relying on more than 250 parameters is proposed. Based on this model, cost driver analysis within process steps, cost elements and parameter categories is provided.
What is the base scenario for battery production?
For the Base Scenario, the battery literature is surveyed regarding characteristics that represent both, the state-of-the-art production technology and materials and designs that are currently in use for large-scale production. Further, a typical high-cost country for battery manufacturing is assumed as plant location.
Is large-scale battery-cell production sensitive to material inputs and scrap rates?
The high ratio of the cost elements Material (77% in the Optimized Scenario) and Material-Scrap (6% in the Optimized Scenario) to total costs show that large-scale battery-cell production is highly sensitive to net material input quantities, scrap rates and costs of purchased materials.