How Much CO2 Comes From Making Batteries?

Written By Teacher: Emily Rogers

Emily has a bachelor’s degree in English and French and a master’s degree in library and information science. She spent seven years teaching information evaluation and research skills as a school librarian in K-8 public schools. As a lifelong resident of Southern Louisiana, Emily has a particular interest in how climate change affects coastal regions. She hopes to connect educators with resources that will help them to teach their students about the disproportionately adverse effects of climate change on historically marginalized communities.

While it might be tempting to focus solely on the positive aspects of electric cars, teachers should be honest with students about the negative consequences of mining the lithium needed to produce most batteries. Start by introducing students to the history of electric cars and engage them in a discussion about the pros and cons of electric vehicles. Help students dig deeper into the ethical problems tied to lithium mining and expose them to the economic realities of battery production. As students begin to understand the challenging realities of producing batteries, be sure to explain that battery production needed to power electric cars is still far less harmful to the environment than gas-powered cars.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

Lithium-ion batteries are a popular power source for clean technologies like electric vehicles, due to the amount of energy they can store in a small space, charging capabilities, and ability to remain effective after hundreds, or even thousands, of charge cycles. These batteries are a crucial part of current efforts to replace gas-powered cars that emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases. These same capabilities also make these batteries good candidates for energy storage for the electric grid. However, that does come with a cost, as the manufacturing process of the batteries and their components emits CO2, among other environmental and social concerns.

The production process

Producing lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles is more material-intensive than producing traditional combustion engines, and the demand for battery materials is rising, explains Yang Shao-Horn, JR East Professor of Engineering in the MIT Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. Currently, most lithium is extracted from hard rock mines or underground brine reservoirs, and much of the energy used to extract and process it comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels. Particularly in hard rock mining, for every tonne of mined lithium, 15 tonnes of CO2 are emitted into the air.