This compares with new EV battery pack costs of $157/kWh at the end of 2019. The batteries must then be fully discharged, reconfigured to meet the energy demands of their new application in many cases, packs are disassembled before modules are tested, equipped with a new battery management system (BMS), and re-packaged.ĭepending on the ownership model and the upfront cost of a second-life battery, estimates of the total cost of a second-life battery range from $40-160/kWh. Each pack must be tested to determine the remaining state of health of battery, as it will vary for each retired system depending on factors that range from climate to individual driving behavior. To be used as stationary storage, used batteries must undergo several processes that are currently costly and time-intensive. The economics of second-life battery storage also depend on the cost of the repurposed system competing with new battery storage. Major automakers, including Nissan and Tesla, have offered rebuilt or refurbished battery packs for purchase or warranty replacement of original battery packs in EVs. Given the light-duty cycles experienced by EV batteries, some battery modules with minimal degradation and absent defects or damage could likely be refurbished and reused directly as a replacement for the same model vehicle. I break down battery degradation more in a previous blog post. Repeated utilization of the maximum storage potential of the battery, rapid charge and discharge cycles, and exposure to high temperatures are all likely to reduce battery performance. How many times a battery can deliver its stored energy at a specific rate is a function of degradation. The ability of a battery to retain and rapidly discharge electricity degrades with use and the passing of time. Depending on their condition, used EV batteries could deliver an additional 5-8 years of service in a secondary application. Why EV batteries could be reusedĪfter 8 to 12 years in a vehicle, the lithium batteries used in EVs are likely to retain more than two thirds of their usable energy storage. Assuming a conservative capacity for each of these batteries (25 kWh), this amounts to over 1 GWh/year of available storage in the Golden State. For context, this is over 200 times total energy storage installed in the US in 2018 (~780 MWh).Ĭalifornia is the largest market for EVs in the US and by 2027, an estimated 45,000 EV batteries will be retired from the state. Forecasts from academic studies and industry reports estimate a range of 112-275 GWh per year of second-life batteries becoming available by 2030 globally. The market for second-life batteriesĪs the market for electric vehicles grows, so too will the supply of second-life batteries. This blog summarizes a brief white paper I helped developed with researchers from the University of California Davis for the group. In this blog, I describe current industry landscape and explain the potential use cases for second-life EV batteries. Today, I’ll be providing testimony to the California Lithium Battery Recycling Advisory Group regarding the reuse of EV batteries the advisory group’s goal is to make recommendations to ensure 100% of EV batteries sold in California are reused or recycled. But in order to enable widespread reuse of EV batteries, policy will play an important role in reducing barriers and ensuring responsible, equitable, and sustainable practices. Given the growing market for EVs, second-life batteries could also represent a market of low-cost storage for utilities and electricity consumers. The economic potential for battery reuse, or second-life, could help to further decrease the upfront costs of EV batteries and increase the value of a used EV. Before batteries are recycled to recover critical energy materials, reusing batteries in secondary applications is a promising strategy. Many of the batteries coming off the road are being used to evaluate a range of options for reuse and recycling. Today, EVs are a still a small piece of the automotive market. When an electric vehicle (EV) comes off the road, what happens to the vehicle battery? The fate of the lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles is an important question for manufacturers, policy makers, and EV owners alike.
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