Lithium-Ion Battery Resource Assessment (LIBRA) Model (Text Version)

This is the text version of the video Lithium-Ion Battery Resource Assessment (LIBRA) Model. 

[Narrator speaks]

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are developing cutting-edge technologies for our sustainable future. But every innovation is incomplete without robust and secure materials and manufacturing supply chains.

Computer models developed at NREL provide detailed assessments, benchmarking, and analyses to identify supply chain gaps and ensure supply chain resiliency. So our scientists can keep reaching for the stars.

[Text on screen: LIBRA]

The Lithium-Ion Battery Resource Assessment Model, otherwise known as LIBRA, is helping researchers analyze the supply chain and economic viability of lithium-ion battery manufacturing, reuse, and recycling.

[Text on screen: Battery Demand Scenarios, Economics, Battery Design Evolution, Technology Development, International Actions]

LIBRA can compile and simplify how various factor changes—such as costs, battery adoption scenarios, and international actions—affect long-term trends in the battery supply chain.

LIBRA's power lies in system dynamics modeling, which tracks the flow of materials, products, and costs over time for lithium-ion battery manufacturing and recycling supply chains. The tool also includes advanced feedback loops that inform calculated changes throughout the stages of the supply chain.

[Text on screen: The Circular Economy, Resource Extraction, Material & Product Design, Manufacturing, Use, Recovery, Waste, Recycle, Remanufacture, Reuse/Repurpose]

As a result, LIBRA can provide essential information on material availability to meet rising battery demand and evaluate the buildout of the manufacturing and recycling industries.

LIBRA can also evaluate the growing demand for lithium-ion batteries due to electric vehicle markets to help secure the U.S. supply chain's foreign influences. LIBRA considers five different electric vehicle types, consumer electronics, and stationary batteries to understand interconnections between battery manufacturers and market demands, including future applications and developments. Technological advancements move quickly, but LIBRA is designed to adapt with next-generation cell chemistries, battery designs, and storage systems.

[Text on screen: LIBRA]

Although LIBRA can't predict the future, this model allows researchers to ask and answer "what-if" questions to gain insights into a complex and rapidly evolving industry. LIBRA offers a sky-high view to guide research and investments to secure the lithium-ion supply chain, optimize recycling processes, and ensure resiliency and sustainability of nationwide grid and vehicle electrification.

[Text on screen: NREL, Transforming Energy]