Battery dismantling centre in Europe: A centralized vs decentralized analysis
H. Rallo, Andres Pastor Sanchez, Lluc Canals Casals, Beatriz Amante García
Abstract
At end-of-life, the battery of electric vehicles (EVs) must be properly managed at dedicated facilities to maximize reuse and recycling. Therefore, transportation entails major challenges, as they are not only heavy and big parts but are also classified as hazardous waste which makes transport expensive and highly regulated. As most of the batteries’ management facilities are located in the centre of Europe, this study assesses whether using a decentralised model to handle batteries from EVs is more sustainable and economical than using a centralised model where most of the EVs batteries are handled and prepared for a 2nd life usage or recycling in a bigger and unique facility in Europe. A feasibility analysis of installing a dismantling facility in Spain is done to compare it with the centralised option of sending the batteries to be handled in Germany. In the analysed scenarios, the costs of battery transportation from Spain to Germany are on average 200% higher compared to the cost of keeping these batteries in Spain. Moreover, most of the specialized facilities in the treatment of batteries are located in the centre of Europe leading to high logistical costs to the countries furthest away from such centres. This determines how logistics costs play a more important role when the economic viability of building one single big facility in contrast to having multiple smaller and spread facilities. In addition to all the economic advantages, a decentralised model has other advantages such as reducing CO2 emissions by reducing transport.