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What is the energy required to construct a battery?

2019-10-30 By Antonis Christofides

People say electric vehicles have a higher energy efficiency. I researched briefly about how much energy it takes to manufacture the battery, and the finding astonished me.

I found this paper, that seems to claim it takes 60 GJ of energy to construct a 24 kWh battery. A Tesla Model S has a 100 kWh battery. The best assumption I can make is that it takes 250 GJ to construct it.

250 GJ is the equivalent of 25 tons of oil. This is as much as a conventional car will consume in 5 years if you give it 100 liters per week. If this were true, electric vehicles would probably be grossly inefficient.

Can someone tell me whether I’ve understood something wrong? Are my calculations off by a decimal digit perhaps?

Tagged With: electric_vehiclesFiled Under: Electric vehicles

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