Energies 2023, 16, 1563. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041563 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
Review
Electric Vehicle Supply Chain Management: A Bibliometric
and Systematic Review
Laene Oliveira Soares
1,2
, Augusto da Cunha Reis
2
, Pedro Senna Vieira
2
, Luis Hernández-Callejo
3,
*
and Ronney Arismel Mancebo Boloy
1,2,
*
1
Group of Entrepreneurship, Energy, Environment and Technology–GEEMAT,
Rio de Janeiro 20271-204, Brazil
2
Federal Centre of Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET/RJ),
Rio de Janeiro 20271-204, Brazil
3
Department of Agricultural Engineering and Forestry, Universidad de Valladolid, Campus Universitario
Duques de Soria, 42004 Soria, Spain
* Correspondence: luis.hernandez.callejo@uva.es (L.H.-C.); ronney.boloy@cefet-rj.br (R.A.M.B.)
Abstract: With the advancement of electric mobility, critical materials that are used in the batteries
and electronic equipment of electric vehicles tend to become scarce. This work aims to analyse the
state-of-art of the electric vehicle supply chain through bibliometric and systematic reviews, using
quantitative and qualitative indicators, to find critical points that represent risks to the supply chain
and that should be focused on and to identify trends for further studies. The bibliometric review
was carried out with the support of the Bibliometrix software. The systematic review was performed
using the PRISMA method. The bibliometric analysis showed the importance of the costs associated
with electric vehicles, as well as trends in studies related to sustainability and transparency in the
supply chain. Although risk management in the supply chain appears to be relatively little studied
when considering the authors’ keyword analysis, the systematic review showed that this process
was the most studied topic. Even so, raw materials supply appeared as the topic most focused on,
followed by an environmental impact assessment and cost analysis. There were also studies aiming
to achieve competitiveness and analyse ecologically correct practices. The battery was the most
studied component, but other components must be analysed in search of greater competitiveness in
relation to conventional vehicles.
Keywords: supply chain management; PRISMA; bibliometric analysis; systematic review
1. Introduction
Hybrid electric vehicles rely on a combination of electricity and fuel combustion to
power the battery and the internal combustion engine, respectively. Thus, considering the
use of electricity generated from renewable energies and the use of biofuels, for example,
hybrid vehicles, with or without a plug, can be seen even more as an alternative for
reducing emissions. Some electric vehicles are already in circulation in Brazilian fleets,
such as hybrid vehicles (Toyota RAV4 SX Connect Hybrid, Toyota Prius Hybrid, Toyota
Corolla Altis Hybrid), battery electric vehicles (Renault Zoe E-Tech, Nissan Leaf) and
plug-in hybrid vehicles (MINI Cooper S E Compatriot ALL4).
However, this growth can result in environmental impacts caused by several electric
vehicle supply chains, mainly by the production of batteries [1]. Elements such as cobalt,
lithium, and nickel are constituents of the lithium-ion batteries mainly used in electronics
and electric vehicles [2]. To reduce emissions and the demand for inputs, attention must
be paid to the availability of raw materials and the optimization of the supply chain,
encouraging the recycling of critical chemical components for the production of new
batteries, and avoiding the inappropriate disposal of these elements in the environment.
Citation: Soares, L.O.; Reis, A.d.C.;
Vieira, P.S.; Hernández-Callejo, L.;
Boloy, R.A.M. Electric Vehicle
Supply Chain Management: A
Bibliometric and Systematic Review.
Energies 2023, 16, 1563. https://
doi.org/10.3390/en16041563
Academic Editor: Yuji Yamada
Received: 30 December 2022
Revised: 22 January 2023
Accepted: 2 February 2023
Published: 4 February 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Li-
censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and con-
ditions of the Creative Commons At-
tribution (CC BY) license (https://cre-
ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).