Feasibility of utilising second life EV batteries: Applications, lifespan, economics, environmental impact, assessment, and challenges

Abstract

It is estimated that by the year 2030, the cumulative of Electric Vehicles (EVs) will reach 85 million. Once EV batteries degraded to 70–80% of their initial capacity, EV owners will have to replace the EV’s batteries as the residual capacity becomes insufficient for automotive use. As a result, more batteries will be discarded from EVs. These batteries could be re-purposed in other applications, where they are known as the EV Second Life Batteries (SLB). In this paper, several projects and research works are reviewed to understand the up-to-date state-of-the-art related to SLB. The technical feasibility, economics, and environmental impact of using SLB are investigated. Different applications of SLB, as well as the assessment and testing required before re-purposing EV batteries, are presented. Some of the existing projects related to SLB, such as the studies done in many countries, batteries' types, applications, and scope of the study, have been summarised. It was found that utilising SLB addresses not only an environmental concern with regards to the discarded batteries but also provides an excellent opportunity to generate revenue if assessed and used optimally. Nevertheless, some challenges do exist, such as the lack of standardised assessment and lack of reliable information due to the low number of studies related to SLB. Further studies of SLB, which could help understand the feasibility and economics of using them and standardising their assessment, are recommended.

Keywords

• Second life EV batteries
• Electric vehicles
• Lithium-ion batteries
• Energy storage system
• SLB economic assessment
• SLB environmental assessment