Debate on the second life for EV batteries has seen a heated discussion for the past few years. With the idea of electrifying the means of transportation, came the concern of how to handle the batteries of scrapped electric vehicles.
Even after an EV battery becomes unable to support the vehicle, it still retains about 70% of its energy. Thus, a group of people are pushing to create a market for EV batteries with a second life. Even if they become unsuitable to be used in Electric vehicles, various places can use a battery pack that still retains 70-80% of its energy.
Believing in this vision, thousands of startups have put their bets on the usage of EV batteries as a second-life storage function after they get scrapped from the EVs.
Image source: Goldman Sachs
But doubts have arisen if this idea is economically feasible. This is because battery re-usage depends on the fact that people will switch out their EVs 10-12 years after their purchase. Regarding this belief, Hans Eric Melin, the founder of Consultancy Circular Energy Storage (CES), believes that “The assumption- that electric vehicle batteries are only going to last 8-to-10 years and then owners will switch them out is just not true,” the founder of CES, a company which tracks battery volumes and prices, said, “It’s going to be tricky to make second-life of batteries work.”
This market is still based on assumptions as the vast number of batteries needed to prove that second life for EVs is an economically viable option are still not available.
In the words of Melin, “The 80% threshold is an arbitrary number which does not reflect the actual usage of EVs,”
Even though there is an expected overflow of batteries in the next decade that needs to be catered to, there still isn’t an established market for second-life batteries. Additionally, big auto companies like Mercedes and Nissan are investing in themselves to develop a second life for EVs, which will make it difficult for new players to survive.
Where can second-life batteries get used?
A battery after completing its life in an electric vehicle can have several important uses as believed by entrepreneurs.
One of the most effective ones is to use them to support power grids. As the world is decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels and promoting the generation of energy through renewable energy, power grids require batteries to store the excess energy.
Image source: istock
Currently, due to battery unavailability, Britain needs to pay around $1.27 billion annually to switch off wind farms when the grid does not need the power. Why? Because there is no way yet to store the energy because of the battery shortage. The country often has to buy electricity from Europe when it has a shortfall because it has no stored energy.
Renewable energy is a very effective method in battling the carbon emissions that are running rampant around the globe. But their biggest weakness lies in the storage of excess energy. We can not produce renewable energy 24/7. Thus, it becomes important to have a way to store excess energy and use it in times when it is needed.
Other than this, many urban appliances can use these batteries to run. Some batteries can even get refurbished and parts of them can be used to make new batteries that can again be used in electric vehicles.
Research around the world is going in full force to bring this vision to fruition.
Recycling of Batteries
Another method to deal with EV batteries is to recycle the whole battery and extract the precious metals used in it in their raw form.
Recycling of EV Battery.
Image source: IStockPhoto
This method however is not appreciated by a lot of people as it is a “dirty and exhausting” process when the battery pack hasn’t even depreciated by 50%. It becomes appealing to many manufacturers to instead discover new ways to use the EV battery pack before sending it to recycling.
This would naturally add years to the battery pack which can go from 5-80 years
Second Life for EV Batteries: Conclusion
Though a second life for EV batteries sounds like an attractive offer, it constitutes many variables. Without concrete evidence about its viability, we cannot determine if it will become a classic in the field of technology or just a phase.
With a doubt about the first life of the battery pack which can go to 10 years and many more, if the drivers keep them in good condition or someone else buys it for the reduced mileage, it becomes difficult to determine how long the second life for EV batteries can be.
