In their efforts to implement a circular economy (CE) for lithium-ion batteries (LIB) in electric vehicles, automotive manufacturers need to take into account the perspective of energy consumers when assessing the environmental benefits of LIB repurposing in life cycle assessment (LCA). In response to this issue, this study presents a novel LCA framework, which allows manufacturers to assess different cases of LIB repurposing in an energy system and interpret the results in a CE context. The framework firstly uses energy flow modelling to enable the assessment of combining different battery storage applications in multi-use cases. Secondly, it includes a comparison of repurposing with alternative circular business models options for LIB. The framework is applied to an automotive manufacturer, seeking to assess a real-world project of LIB repurposing in different combinations of behind-the-meter applications at an industrial production site in Germany. As a key outcome, results reveal that from the perspective of the energy consumer, climate change benefits in multi-use cases are 10–22% lower than in single applications. Furthermore, from the perspective of the automotive manufacturer, repurposing is identified as the most beneficial option of circular business models available for LIB, taking into account additional recycling benefits resulting from the delay of end-of-life. Based on these findings, the study contributes to the application of LCA for decision-making in a CE and highlights pitfalls and potentials for a sustainable implementation of LIB repurposing in the future.

在为电动汽车中的锂离子电池 (LIB) 实施循环经济 (CE) 的过程中，汽车制造商在生命周期评估 (LCA) 中评估 LIB 再利用的环境效益时，需要考虑能源消费者的观点. 针对这个问题，本研究提出了一种新颖的 LCA 框架，该框架允许制造商评估能源系统中 LIB 再利用的不同情况，并在 CE 背景下解释结果。该框架首先使用能量流建模来评估在多用例中组合不同的电池存储应用。其次，它包括对 LIB 的再利用与替代循环商业模式选项的比较。该框架应用于汽车制造商，寻求评估在德国的一个工业生产基地在不同的仪表后应用组合中重新利用 LIB 的现实世界项目。作为一个关键结果，结果表明，从能源消费者的角度来看，多用途案例中的气候变化收益比单一应用低 10-22%。此外，从汽车制造商的角度来看，再利用被认为是可用于 LIB 的循环商业模式中最有利的选择，同时考虑到寿命结束延迟带来的额外回收效益。基于这些发现，该研究有助于 LCA 在 CE 决策中的应用，并强调了未来可持续实施 LIB 再利用的陷阱和潜力。