Abstract Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are central to the global transition toward decarbonization, powering electric vehicles and grid-scale storage. Yet, reducing production costs remains a critical challenge as industries scale to meet projected demands exceeding 6 TWh by 2030. This study examines the cost sensitivity of mixing, coating, and drying steps, which together account for over 20% of overall production costs and are among the most defect-prone in electrode fabrication. Existing techno-economic models often treat these steps in aggregate, obscuring the impact of specific parameter variations. Using the process-based ProZell cost model and a Plackett–Burman design of experiments, we show that optimizing key parameters can reduce costs by up to 22 million annually (~2. 0%) in a 10 GWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cylindrical cell facility. Cathode mixing time was the most influential variable, with an 80% reduction corresponding to ~ 12 million in savings (~1. 12%). Increasing anode and cathode coating speeds by 80% yields ~ 8. 8 million in combined savings. Emerging innovations, including dry electrode and high-shear mixing, offer additional savings. BatPaC modeling identified cathode thickness limits of 310. 3 µm (LFP) and 168. 8 µm (nickel manganese cobalt), beyond which optimization is constrained. These findings offer actionable insights for scalable, chemistry-specific cost reductions in LIB manufacturing.
Domalanta et al. (Thu,) studied this question.