Introduction

Electric car deployment has witnessed rapid growth over the last ten years. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimate, the global stock of electric passenger cars has already reached the 5 million mark in 2018. Furthermore, according to one of the IEA’s scenarios, “EV30@30”, the global EV sales are expected to reach 44 million vehicles per year by 2030. This brings us to the most important question, which is, what happens to the battery when it reaches the end-of-life in electric vehicles? Batteries are retired after use for more than 10 years in electric vehicles, as they are not capable enough to meet stringent requirements of continuous charging and discharging cycles, even though these batteries have around 70% of the original capacity remaining.

Batteries are generally recycled, disposed of, or can be refurbished for further use. The refurbishment of batteries for further use in stationary storage applications provides a lot of opportunities.

Battery Life Cycle – Value Chain

Exhibit 1 depicts the value chain for EV batteries. The current methods for the end of their useful life in EVs are mainly disposal and recycling.

Disposal: Battery packs are generally thrown away if they are damaged beyond repair. It can lead to a huge amount of battery waste and subsequently, have a negative environmental impact. These batteries need to be adequately disposed, as they carry an immense risk of polluting the atmosphere with toxic gases.

Recycling: There are several EU regulations in place that are encouraging tie-ups between carmakers and recyclers to carry out collection, treatment, and recycling of batteries. One example is Umicore that deals with Tesla and Toyota to recover some of the precious metals from batteries.

Reuse: Since batteries have a capacity of around 70% remaining after their first use in EV application, they can be refurbished and used for stationary storage applications, which are not demanding as that of EV application.

Projects related to Second-Life EV batteries

There are several projects worldwide where Second-Life EV batteries are being used for stationary storage applications. Some of the prominent projects are mentioned as follows –

Challenges related to Second-Life EV batteries

There are several challenges that might impact the usage of used EV batteries for stationary storage applications. These challenges, if overcome, can result in more utility and automotive players partnering together to develop second-life EV battery projects for stationary storage applications.

Outlook

The increasing uptake of the EV market is expected to result in the development of a huge number of batteries (terawatt-hours) in the next 10 years. According to Hyundai estimates, there will be 29 GWh of second-life EV batteries available by 2025. These batteries will generate significant value and bring down the cost for applications, such as stationary energy storage. The used EV batteries can be reused for the next 8-10 years in stationary energy storage applications. The current cost difference between second-life batteries and new batteries is a very attractive proposition and will play a significant role in increasing the usage of second-life EV batteries.

Second-life battery usage in stationary storage applications will also lead to various battery ownership models wherein automotive players will try to remain the owners of batteries, owing to the stabilization of the second-life battery market and its confirmed residual market value. Even though there are several challenges related to Second-Life EV batteries, if overcome, it can become a promising market.