Electromobility is a trend that is growing year on year. The technological advancement of electric cars depends mainly on their batteries. The production of batteries for electric cars therefore plays an important role in the future of motoring. Find out the most important information about the construction of an electric battery and the process of making it.
Battery production for electric cars - what does it look like in practice?
The production of batteries for electric cars has several stages, whereby successive components of the entire propulsion device are created. The most important and smallest parts of each battery are the battery cells responsible for storing current. During the manufacturing process, the individual cells are combined to form the battery modules.
The modules are fitted with special foils to facilitate system cooling. A built-in radiator and a heat shield inside the battery casing also ensure that the battery is kept at the right temperature. The grid, which supports and conducts the current, the positive and negative electrodes, as well as the separator, are also placed in the casing. The casing itself is made of a resistant material such as aluminium. The durability and leak-tightness of this material is important because, in the end, the housing is filled with electrolyte, a flammable substance.
Before the finished battery leaves the factory, it undergoes various tests. Amongst other things, it is checked for leaks, insulation or the adequacy of live components. 
What raw materials are used to make batteries for electric cars?
The production of batteries for electric cars is a process in which specific raw materials are essential elements. Lithium and cobalt form the basis for most car models and their zero-emission power packs. These raw materials are used to produce the cells, which take the form of layered electrodes in the manufacturing process.
The construction of an electric battery also involves the use of elements and metals such as nickel, manganese, copper or aluminium. It is from these that the protective and safety components of the entire battery are created. The entire battery casing, insulating elements or cell separators are responsible for absorbing shocks, preventing electrical punctures and keeping the drive unit in the best possible technical condition.
Raw materials and the cost of batteries for an electric car
Producing batteries for electric cars is not a cheap endeavour, and this is reflected in the car showroom customer. The high price of zero-emission cars is largely due to the costs generated by the battery manufacturing process and, more specifically, by the extraction of the raw materials needed to make the battery. The components that make up the battery now cost so much that the value of the battery corresponds to around 30% of the total value of the vehicle.
The large margin for raw materials is due to the fact that they come from rare earths. Deposits of the most desirable metals are found in a small number of countries. Most raw materials are located in the Congo and Morocco (in the case of cobalt), as well as Australia, Chile or China (for lithium). The market is governed by its own rules, so the countries with these scarcely available resources are forcing their prices ever higher.
However, high raw material prices are not discouraging global electric battery manufacturers from producing batteries, but are motivating the use of alternative manufacturing sources. In 2020, Elon Musk announced that his Tesla plans to introduce new lithium-iron-phosphate batteries for electric cars. Cheaper raw materials will reduce the costs associated with manufacturing the battery, thereby lowering the price of the final product, which is an electric car. 
Is the production of batteries for electric cars harmful?
Probably everyone has heard more than once that green vehicles are a good solution for environmental protection because they are zero-emission. The absence of exhaust emissions and carbon dioxide is an undeniable advantage of electric cars. However, not everyone knows that the production of batteries for an electric car itself is no longer so green. This is because the production of electric batteries is associated with high greenhouse gas emissions.
Research by the Swedish Environment Institute shows that producing each kilowatt-hour of battery capacity corresponds to emitting around 150-200 kilograms of harmful carbon dioxide. This means that the battery capacity of an electric car is of great environmental importance. The larger the battery, the more its production requires the consumption of a significant amount of raw materials and resources for processing.
The processing of batteries in factories is often not very beneficial for our ecosystem. Some factories use electricity from fossil fuels, which pollute the environment with various oxides, hydrocarbons or dust.
