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.

The focus of this study is to provide a comparative techno-economic analysis concerning the deployment of small-scale gasification systems in dealing with various fuels from two countries, Portugal and Brazil, for electricity generation in a 15 kWe downdraft gasifier. To quantify this, a mathematical model was implemented and validated against experimental runs gathered from the downdraft reactor. Further, a spreadsheet economic model was developed combining the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and the payback period (PBP) over the project’s lifetime set to 25 years. Cost factors included expenses related to electricity generation, initial investment, operation and maintenance and fuel costs. Revenues were estimated from the electricity sales to the grid. A Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis was used to measure the performance of the economic model and determine the investment risk. The analysis showed an electricity production between 11.6 to 15 kW, with a general system efficiency of approximately 13.5%. The viability of the projects was predicted for an NPV set between 18.99 to 31.65 k€, an IRR between 16.88 to 20.09% and a PBP between 8.67 to 12.61 years. The risk assessment yielded favorable investment projections with greater risk of investment loss in the NPV and the lowest for IRR. Despite the feasibility of the project, the economic performance proved to be highly reliant on the electricity sales prices subdue of energy market uncertainties. Also, regardless of the broad benefits delivered by these systems, their viability is still strikingly influenced by governmental decisions, subsidiary support and favorable electricity sales prices. Overall, this study highlights the empowering effect of small-scale gasification systems settled in decentralized communities for electric power generation.