## 5 Conclusions  
This paper has reported an environmental assessment of an NMC Lithium-ion traction battery and of its application to a battery electric LDCV for urban and regional freight haulage. The main original results were obtained from:  
1. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of an NMC111 battery, including production, further waste disposal related to the impact of incineration and the burial of materials, environmental credits, and recycling, as well as battery losses. 2. Insight into a life cycle assessment of different NMC chemistries. 3. Life cycle assessment of the manufacturing stages of NMC111 and ZEBRA batteries. 4. A life cycle assessment of three LDCV configurations (NMC111-BEV, ZEBRA-BEV, and conventional diesel), including battery and vehicle production, vehicle maintenance, battery losses, and vehicle use phases. The main findings for each topic are summarised hereafter. Cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of an NMC111 battery
* The production stage is the main contributor to the total impact in all the impact categories. The main factors responsible for the production impact of the NMC111 battery are Nickel, Aluminium, Copper, Cobalt, and Energy demand. The amount of energy and heat necessary for the production stage is a source of uncertainty, as it has only been possible to estimate it partially. * The contribution of the production of non-cell materials to battery production can range from 36% to 46% for many impact categories (ADP, CED, ADP-FF, and GWP). This confirms the importance of taking into account the impacts of battery production for both cell and non-cell materials when assessing the environmental sustainability of electric mobility. * EoL produces environmental benefits that range from 3% to 25% of the total battery impact for most of the considered categories. The greatest benefits are shown for HTP (25%), POP (22%), AP (22%), and ADP (21%). However, the EoL stages increase the impact of ODP, ADP-FF and CED by about 30%, 7%, and 5%, respectively. However, recycling could be improved, since many of the materials involved in the production of batteries are not recycled (e.g., Lithium, Aluminium). The amount of energy and heat necessary for the EoL stages is another source of uncertainty. * The battery production site influences GWP to a great extent, and the savings increase as the carbon intensity of the electricity chain decreases. * Since energy is a key factor for the total impacts of batteries, company data should be made public to encourage future LCAs. Insight into the life cycle assessment of different NMC chemistries
* In addition to NMC111, two cathode chemistries with increasing percentages of Nickel have been assessed, namely NMC622 and NMC811. * Even though GWP shows slight differences between the considered NMC chemistries, NMC622 results to be the battery with the least GWP intensive formulation. * ADP shows significant differences for the three chemistries. Nickel-rich cathodes mean reduced ADP and higher benefits, linked to the amount of avoided Nickel production. Thus, NMC811 contributes less to abiotic resource exploitation. * NMC811 also shows the lowest impacts for POP and AP. Life cycle assessment of the manufacturing stages of the NMC111 and ZEBRA batteries
* NMC111 performs better for all the impact categories, except for ADP-FF, GWP, ODP and CED, where ZEBRA shows the lowest impacts. Life cycle assessment of three LDCV configurations: NMC111-BEV, ZEBRA-BEV, and conventional diesel* All the impact categories of NMC-BEV are significantly lower than those of ZEBRA-BEV. * From a comparison of the vehicle LCA of the electric and diesel configurations, the following has emerged:
* The electric configurations show advantages over the diesel configuration, albeit only for GWP, POP, ADP-FF, and ODP. * All the vehicle configurations seem to have quite similar impacts for CED. * The diesel configuration shows a lower impact than the electric ones for HTP, F-ECOTP, M-ECOTP, T-ECOTP, AP, EP, and ADP.