Environmental impacts of NMC811 and LFP lithium‐ion batteries in I ndia's electric vehicle sector

Electric vehicles are increasingly adopted in India to reduce transport‐related greenhouse gas emissions. The study evaluates the environmental impacts of two widely used lithium‐ion battery chemistries—Nickel Manganese Cobalt 8:1:1 (NMC811) and Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP)—using life cycle assessment under present Indian conditions and a projected 2040 scenario. Inventory data were obtained from established scientific literature and assessed across 10 environmental impact categories using the ReCiPe 2016 method. The comparative LCA showed that the Li‐ion battery with an LFP cathode has the lowest environmental impact compared to NMC811. The global warming potential of NMC811 is 9.31 kg CO₂‐eq, nearly twice that of LFP (4.44 kg CO₂‐eq per kg). NMC811 also exhibits higher impacts in fossil fuel potential, water consumption, marine eutrophication, ozone depletion, human toxicity, and ionizing radiation. LFP performs worse only in terrestrial acidification potential, mainly due to mining and material production. The 2040 scenario indicates increased impacts for both chemistries across all categories, with impacts rising by about 60–75% for LFP and nearly doubling for NMC811, driven by higher electricity demand and fossil fuel dependence. The impact can be decreased by increasing the share of renewables in the Indian energy grid.