Second-life lithium-ion battery scenario

The excessive use of lithium-ion batteries to cut vehicular emission will certainly create pollution of a different sort. To pre-empt the problem, second-use battery options need to be promoted, both from an environmental and financial aspect.

With an increasing use of battery for different applications, the concerns associated with the disposal or reuse of used batteries is gaining importance. In the absence of efficient recycling technology, many of the modern battery technologies such as lithium-ion battery (LIB) end up in landfills. In such a scenario, dealing with the huge amount of retired batteries for a second useful life is gaining considerable interest among researchers as well as industries. These batteries are generally known as secondlife battery (SLB) and the primary source of these batteries is the electric vehicle. This is because of a huge penetration of EVs in the market, which will become a major source of a large number of retired batteries once their use in the vehicles is over.

Second-life battery projects globally

Currently the deployment of SLBs is limited to commercial use. Although some notable projects are undertaken globally to validate real-life applications, most of them are research rather commercial projects such as: • The University of California,

Davis employed a second-life energy storage system for their

RMI Winery Microgrid Project and these batteries were sourced from Nissan Leaf EVs. • In Hamburg, Germany, BMW,

Vattenfall and Bosch together constructed a 2 MW, 2800 kWh second-life battery energy storage system (SLBESS) for grid support In 2013, ABB and General Motors used second-life EV batteries to build a 25 kW, 25 kWh energy storage system in San Francisco, US and the used batteries were from the Chevrolet Volt, an electric hybrid. Toyota built a stand-alone 85 kWh SLBESS to support 40 kW photovoltaic system using 208 nickel metal hybrid (NiMH) batteries at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch at the Yellowstone National Park, USA.

In 2015, Nissan switched to commercial production of SLBESS. There are other notable SLB projects around the world and these are listed in Table 1.

Sr. No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. Joint Ventures

Table 1: Important second-life battery projects

Description

Daimler/ GETEC/The Mobility House/ Remondis/EnBW

BMW/PG&E

4R energy (JV between Nissan and Sumitomo) / Green Charge Network

BMW/Vattenfall/Bosch

Renault/Connected Energy Ltd.

Mitsubishi/PSA/EDF/ Forsee Power/MMC

Battery storage unit with a total capacity of 13 MWh using degraded EV batteries from Daimler EV models

18-month pilot project to demonstrate EV smart charging and optimization of grid efficiency with participation of 100 BMW i3 owners

System (600 kWh/400 kWh): 16 Nissan Leaf LIBs regulate energy from a solar plant

2,600 battery modules from 100 electric cars, and provides 2 MW of output and 2.8 MWh of capacity

E-STOR system: on-grid, providing energy storage that prevents power grid overload and balances supply and demand

Bi-directional battery energy consumption optimization from retired batteries

Location

Luenen, Germany

San Francisco, USA

Osaka, Japan

Hamburg, Germany

UK

Paris, France

Five Chevrolet Volt LIBs, 74 kW solar array and two 2 kW wind turbines to power a General Motors office building site

Demand of second-use lithium-ion battery in India

We at IESA have estimated the cumulative capacity for second-life lithium-ion battery for India at 11 GWh by 2030. The study considered the life of second-life of lithium-ion battery for different applications as follows: would be the biggest contributor rooftop solar: 4 years; inverter: 4 for second-life lithium-ion battery at years; UPS: 5 years; telecom: 4 years; around 2.5 GWh. Figure 2 shows the rural electrification: 3 years; railway: yearly installation of second-use of Figure 1: Second-use of lithium-ion battery in stationary storage applications in 3 years. Figure 1 shows cumulative lithium-ion battery. We can expect India by 2030 capacity of second use of lithium-ion around 3 GWh of additional secondbattery for different sectors. Among use lithium-ion battery in India by the different sectors, the telecom sector year of 2030.

Figure 1: Second-use of lithium-ion battery in stationary storage applications in India by 2030

Recommendations

To use lithium-ion battery in large scale applications, the total investment cost increases due to the high price of the battery. Thus, retired EV batteries can be a practical and inexpensive solution for many stationary applications. However, economic uncertainty and liability concerns are associated with second life batteries which limit market penetration. The following steps are required to increase the market share of secondlife batteries:

Cumulative capacity of installed second life LIB (GWh)

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030

Yearly installation of second life…

Figure 2: Cumulative capacity of second-use of lithium-ion battery in India Figure 2: Cumulative capacity of second-use of lithium-ion battery in India

Recommendations

Year To use lithium-ion battery in large scale applications, the total • investment cost increases due to specific policies and strategies to • the high price of the battery. repurposed battery companies Thus, retired EV batteries can ensure development of a market be a practical and inexpensive can tie-up with EV battery man• solution for many stationary ap uncertainty and liability concerns for these batteries federal and state tax credits, rebates, and other financial plications. However, economic are associated with second life ufacturers to get information of battery function history; this can help in estimation of degradation batteries which limit market pene support to encourage the use of tration. The following steps are of retired EV battery. required to increase the market second-life batteries share of second-life batteries: •  specific policies and strategies to ensure development of a proper reuse and collection mechmarket for these batteries anism of used EV batteries need •  federal and state tax credits, rebates, and other financial support to encourage the use of second-life batteries  proper reuse and collection mechanism of used EV to be specified development of standards for testing, evaluation and selection of cells suitable for second life from Dr. Tanmay Sarkar Senior Consultant R&D, Customized Energy Solutions batteries need to be specified a battery pack

Life cycle stage Battery/vehicle production

Use phase

Collection

Transport

Reuse application Initiative

Material selection

Design for EOL Labelling or identification Repair or maintenance Extended producer responsibility Shipping guidelines

Reuse provision

Recommendations

Chemistry standardization at the beginning of battery production would help in mixing and matching of retired EV batteries A standard design guideline of battery pack making process will ease disassembly and refurbishment Labelling of chemistry, capacity, voltage information of LIB materials will help in sorting and remanufacturing. For this bar codes or RFID chips can be used. A guideline about the battery repair/maintenance can be introduced to extend LIB life after use in EV.

Proper regulations to specify transfer of collection responsibility in case of reuse Specific guidelines for large size end-of-life EV batteries are required for the second-life battery industry A standard battery testing guideline for second-use battery is very crucial in absence of its functions and history, specifically for safety reasons Need to prioritize second applications based on techno-economic analysis Economic incentives for reuse of LIB