A life-cycle assessment is only reviewable when the source files stay attached to the assumptions. Lithium Record gives those lithium LCA files a permanent evidence location and hash. 1 2
This spoke belongs to the Lithium Carbon Footprint Evidence pillar at /lithium-carbon-footprint-evidence/.
Source files before summary claims
LCA summaries are useful, but they can hide the evidence chain. Lithium source records should preserve the documents behind the summary: production route, reagent inputs, electricity mix, water treatment notes, allocation logic, co-product treatment, transport mode, and data-quality statement. The record should state whether the file is a supplier upload, customer upload, consultant extract, or public source.
Boundary discipline
Lithium evidence can be cradle-to-gate, gate-to-gate, or tied to a specific process step. A vault page should name the boundary rather than implying total product coverage. The Battery Regulation carbon-footprint context makes this important because downstream users may rely on the file in a battery-level calculation. A vague boundary can contaminate the calculation chain.
Audit value
When each LCA source file has a URL, date, and hash, a reviewer can check whether the calculation used the same document later displayed in the record. That is the vault function. It does not validate the LCA model, verify the measurement, or endorse the methodology.