Electric Vehicles offer clear environmental benefits over ICE vehicles, due to their lower operating emissions, particularly when powered by renewable energy. However, the emissions associated with EV battery production are an urgent concern, because while they do not undermine the overall sustainability of EVs, they clearly present an opportunity for further transparency and improvement. Only by understanding the sources of emissions in battery production as well as battery material production can decision-makers explore ways to reduce them.

Our focus is on traction batteries, which power the vehicle's electric motor and are one of the largest contributors to emissions in EV production. Emissions sourced from raw (battery) materials for them account for more than a third of the total CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) of an average Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV). In addition, the CO₂e emissions of a BEV are nearly double those of an ICE vehicle due to the higher raw-material requirements, based on the average battery production in Asia, not taking green grid impact into consideration. Because the choices of raw battery materials—including their extraction and processing—occur early in the supply chain, before the product reaches the manufacturer, these decisions have a sizeable impact on scope 3 upstream emissions.

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