The further aim of EMPOWER is to understand and shape the role of EV batteries in enabling a zero-emission energy system/mobility sector in Norway, which includes 6 integrated workpackages (WPs). See list below.
Integrated workpackages (WPs)
WP1. Towards a sustainable EV battery life cycle.
WP2. Materials and technologies for sustainable EV batteries in a circular economy.
WP3. Consumers & Producers: Determinants of preferences.
WP4. A legal framework for sustainable batteries in mobility.
WP5. Modelling: Sustainable EV batteries in future net-zero energy systems.
WP6. EMPOWER to Educate: Co-designed research and education.
The Sustainable Futures Lab contributes in particularly to WP1, led by Professor Maja Van Der Velden, together with post-doc researcher Arian Mahzouni, by providing a sustainability framework for EMPOWER, with particular focus on the EV battery life cycle and future battery use.
WP1 takes an integrative approach to support the creation of a common language in the project, strengthening collaboration among all WPs and enabling interdisciplinary outcomes. It uses a regulatory ecology perspective, a systems approach to investigating the interactions between four modes of regulation:
- the design and architecture of batteries (WP2),
- the laws and directives regulating batteries (WP4),
- the market of mobility batteries (new and second-life ones) (WP3),
- and social norms of battery use, now and in the future (WP1, WP3 & WP5).
Informed by the EV battery life cycle, the WP1 will also involve youth in designing and exploring future sustainable transport solutions (WP6).