Secondary use of electric vehicle (EV) batteries is a topic that has been long discussed, often accompanied by a smirk or a rolling of the eyes.  The issue, of course, is what to do with advanced lithium-ion automotive batteries after they have been removed from the vehicle in which they were originally installed.  Finding a new use for those batteries is important, since any residual value captured by that reuse effectively reduces the price that a consumer must pay for the original battery.

Most of the discussion about reuse has centered on what the residual uses of the batteries are going to be.  Many have talked about (and several are investigating) the repurposing of EV batteries for grid-connected energy storage. Use in residential power back-up and vehicle recharging station applications is also possible.  The Chinese have mentioned plans to use repurposed EV batteries in street lights.  The highest and best use of repurposed EV batteries is, however, still very much an open question.

Repurposing EV batteries is not straightforward and is fraught with complications (this is where the smirks and rolling eyes come in), some of them not so obvious.  Wide variation in the designs of current EV batteries, different duty cycles, different rates of degradation among cells in the same pack, and the expense of repackaging and transporting repurposed units all make capturing the residual value of EV batteries a challenging proposition.

But the challenge of repurposing EV batteries should not blind the industry to the important nature of that challenge.  Maximizing EV battery residual value is critical to reducing battery costs and making EV’s attractive to the average automobile consumer. Producing a battery that can capture maximum residual value may soon prove to be a field of proprietary competition every bit as important as increasing cycle life and improving energy density of the battery.  Residual value will have to factor into the design of every battery cell, pack and module.  Advanced battery makers smirk and roll their eyes at their peril.

On September 7-8, 2011, NAATBatt’s 2011 Annual Meeting and Conference will devote a portion of its program to discussing the outlook for and challenges of capturing residual value from EV batteries once they leave the vehicle.  Representatives from General Motors, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, LithChem (Toxco), RSR Technologies and others will talk about the work that is being done on EV battery repurposing and how the need to maximize the value of repurposing and recycling lithium-ion batteries is likely to affect EV battery design.  I hope you can join us.