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The battery electric vehicle (BEV) industry, commanding over half of the global market share in China, has garnered significant attention in response to escalating concerns about climate change. NCM (LiNi x Co y Mn z O 2) batteries, prized for their high energy density, are pivotal in this industry. However, their production relies on critical metals, posing environmental challenges. Recycling processes aim to address this issue by recovering critical metals from end-of-life batteries. The industry is updating from NCM 111 to NCM 811 batteries to enhance energy density and reduce costs, but the key factors influencing the material flows and environmental impacts remain uncertain. This paper aims to identify the key factors contributing to the potential differences in material flows and environmental impacts introduced by the NCM battery upgrading in China. Following the new energy vehicle sales projections in China until 2035, a dynamic material flow analysis was employed to calculate material demands, recovered amounts, and substitution rates for various upgrading scenarios. The study reveals that the majority of retired batteries until 2035 were sold between 2022 and 2029. Material substitution rates prove to be more sensitive to the upgrading scenario than the lifetime and growth rate of BEVs. Faster NCM 811 penetration results in over 2.5 times more saved cobalt demand compared to additional nickel demand. A life cycle assessment of NCM batteries reveals a 39% lower global warming impact for NCM 811 compared to NCM 111, highlighting environmental benefits from increased energy density and reduced cobalt consumption. The energy density improvement contributed 85%, while the alteration in material composition contributed 15% to the global warming reduction in NCM 811. Recycling emerges as a crucial strategy in mitigating environmental impacts across all categories, particularly addressing eutrophication, previously deemed challenging due to the difficulty in recovering Li 2 CO 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID–19 has disrupted human life considerably since the beginning of 2020. The transport sector is one of the most affected sector due to restrictions imposed to curb COVID–19 pandemic. This paper evaluates the environmental impacts of COVID–19 response scenarios using life cycle assessment approach. Six regions selected for the study are Australia, China, European Union (EU), India, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA). Data for vehicle population, vehicle kilometers travelled, fleet type, and fuel efficiency were used for 2015–2020. The environmental impacts were calculated for five scenarios; Baseline–2019, Business As Usual (BAU) and COVID–19 Response Scenario (CRS) for 2020 and 2030 namely, 2020–BAU, 2020–CRS, 2030–BAU, and 2030–CRS. The results indicate that COVID–19 occurrence and related response measures did not contribute to significant environment benefits in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP) and other pollutants in short term and long term. This implies that although immediate reductions in emissions were observed in many studies, the long term effects were minimal due to irregular policies and unmanaged demand. Further, to achieve environment benefits sustained measures should be implemented in long term with proper planning and supporting infrastructure. Although electric vehicle strategies will provide benefits; emphasis on vehicle production and fuel production technologies is also needed to achieve the emission reduction targets. The findings are relevant for policy makers while devising policies to achieve the targets. • Vehicle stock will grow significantly in 2030 for developing countries • China's 2030 transport sector GWP will be highest, 1772 MT CO 2 eq, surpassing USA • Only USA showed reductions for all pollutants in 2030 COVID-19 response scenario • All countries had similar trends for most pollutants at different life cycle stages • COVID–19 occurrence didn't contribute to significant benefits in short & long term [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery electric industrial vehicles (BEIVs) offer significant environmental protection and decarbonization potential for rapidly growing logistics and transportation sectors in China. However, the limited driving range remains a major obstacle to the widespread adoption of BEIVs. Eco-driving is an effective solution that can improve energy efficiency and extend the driving range of vehicles by controlling driving behavior and speed. Therefore, this paper introduces an energy efficient speed planning method for BEIVs, in which data-driven models are developed to estimate energy consumption. Real-world driving data collected from a BEIV are used to model the energy consumption by curve fitting, random forest, and LSTM. The speed planning process is considered a Markov Decision Process, which is solved using Dynamic Programming and Q-learning, respectively. The case study of a battery electric forklift shows that speed planning can reduce energy consumption by 13%–27% compared to time-optimal speed, while only increasing the driving time by 10%–20%. • Energy efficient speed planning methods for electric industrial vehicles are proposed. • The speed planning method uses data-driven vehicle energy consumption models. • The energy consumption models are developed using random forest and LSTM. • The speed planning problem is formulated as a Markov decision process. • The speed planning problem is solved by Dynamic Programming and Q-learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]